Measures of immigrant stocks in the UK

Emma Wright

Office for National Statistics, UK

Overview

• Analysis of origin and ancestry of UK Population focuses on:

• Country of birth• Ethnicity

Outline of presentation• Data requirements within the UK• UK data sources• Recent results• Future work

Data requirements in the UK

• Ethnicity data required at national and local level:– picture of ethnic groups over time– promote equal opportunities

• Analysis in the past was based on country of birth and parents’ countries of birthBUT less relevant as later generations born in UK

• Question on ethnicity first included on the Census in 1991 (Great Britain only).

• Following further development, a revised question was included on all the UK Censuses in 2001.

UK Ethnic Group Classification (1)

Level 1 Level 2

WHITE BritishIrishOther white background

MIXED White and Black CaribbeanWhite and Black AfricanWhite and AsianOther Mixed background

ASIAN OR IndianASIAN BRITISH Pakistani

BangladeshiOther Asian background

UK Ethnic Group Classification (2)

Level 1 Level 2

BLACK or CaribbeanBLACK BRITISH African

Other Black background

CHINESE or ChineseOTHER ETHNIC Other ethnic groupGROUP

NOT STATED

Data Sources

• Census– Country of Birth– Ethnicity (since 1991)

• Labour Force Survey– Country of Birth, Ethnicity AND– Nationality

• General Household Survey– Country of Birth AND– Parents’ country of birth

UK Population by Ethnic Group

Ethnic Group Population Per Cent

White 54.2m 92.1

Mixed 0.7m 1.2

Asian/Asian British 2.3m 4.0

Black/Black British 1.1m 2.0

Chinese 0.2m 0.4

Other ethnic groups 0.2m 0.4

All minority groups 4.6m 7.9

Total population 58.8m 100.0

Census, April 2001

UK Ethnic Minority Population

Other ethnic groups

(5%)

Mixed (15%)

Chinese (5%)

Black or Black British

(25%)

Asian or Asian British

(50%)

Census, April 2001

UK Overseas-born Population

UK Overseas-born population by Ethnic Group

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

White Mixed Asian/AsianBritish

Black/BlackBritish

Chinese/Other

million

In 2001, 8.3 per cent of the UK population were born overseas, almost double that in 1951 (4.2 per cent).

Only 53 per cent of the overseas-born population was White (compared to 96 per cent of those born in the UK).

Census, April 2001

UK Overseas-born Population

Overseas born population by major country of birth group

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

Irish Republic

Other EU

Rest of Europe

Africa

Asia

North & South America

Oceania

Other

million

Census, April 2001

Second generation migrants

Parents’ country of birth Population %

2nd generation migrants: 5.6m 10.6 One parent born outside UK 3.4m 6.4

Both parents born outside UK 2.2m 4.2

Both parents born in UK 46.8m 89.0

Missing data 0.2m 0.4

All people born in UK 52.6m 100.0

General Household Survey, 2001 (Great Britain)

Results: UK Population in 2001

Ethnicity• 4.6 million people (7.9%) belonged to non-White ethnic

groups. (2001 Census)

Country of Birth• 4.9 million people (8.3%) were born overseas, of whom just

under half belonged to non-White ethnic groups. (2001 Census)

2nd Generation Migrants• 5.6 million people (10.6%) estimated to have have been

born in the UK but have at least one overseas-born parent. (General Household Survey, 2001)

Future work

• National Statistics Quality Review on International Migration statistics recommended:

– work to reconcile stock and flow data on the UK’s international migrants;

– investigation of data and methods to estimate the stock of unauthorised migrants in the UK;

– consideration of the inclusion of both nationality and year of entry to the UK on future UK Censuses.

• A full user consultation on the questions and classifications to be used for the 2011 Census in England & Wales (starts May 2005).