Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Every faith in Britain is a minority faith now

46% of people now say their religion as Christian is a historic change, says Sunder Katwala

Every faith in Britain is a minority faith now

The census results offer a once-a-decade statistical snapshot of the society that we all live in. So it should be little surprise that they confirm that this is an ethnically diverse and more secular society.

The census has run for two centuries, this 2021 edition is only the fourth to report ethnicity data. What was not yet a footnote in the statistical national portrait before 1991 has moved from the margins to the mainstream.


The Asian population of England and Wales has grown to over 5.5 million from 4.2 million a decade ago. Over five million people are plural in every way - including 1.8 million people born in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, and their British-born children and grandchildren’s confidence in this country. The non-white ethnic minority population has risen to 18% from 14% over the last decade. The population is 82% white - compared to 86% a decade ago. Almost three-quarters of people (74.%) are white British, from 80.5% in 2011. The other white group grew fastest over the last decade, particularly through migration from Europe.

Trevor Phillips Trevor Phillips (Photo: Twitter)

These census details capture several long-term story of British integration.  Britain’s ethnic diversity is spreading out geographically. The pace of ethnic change is now slower in inner London, as house prices and rents rise, and faster in the suburbs, home counties and beyond. Trevor Phillips calls this pattern of ethnic desegration “the reversal of white flight”. One in ten households contain people from different ethnic groups.

The census records a mixed race population of 1.8 million (3%) up from 1.2 million in 2011 and tripling from the 600,000 in 2001. The census data underestimates this phenomenon. Research finds twice as many people are of mixed ethnic heritage as tick the mixed race census box, while others of mixed parentage can identify as black, Asian or white British.

A changing census form gives a misleadingly dramatic swing in national identity data. British was listed above English this time in England. Half of respondents just ticked the top label on the list - English in 2011, British in 2021. What the two censuses together show is how much those  identities overlap for most people.

That 46% of people now say their religion as Christian is a historic change. Every faith in Britain is a minority faith now. Over a third (37%) declare they have no religion, while 7% are Muslim and 2% are Hindu, with significant Sikh and Jewish minorities too. The headlines may declare we are a post-Christian society, though when 27 million people identify as Christian, 6 million with other faiths and 22 million as having no religion, arguments over the labels matter less than getting the right boundaries to live together well in a society of many faiths and none.

Next year’s Coronation will see King Charles III speak about his sense of duty to protect Britain’s diversity.  As Sadiq Khan told last week’s Asian Business Awards, the shared efforts of a Christian King, a Hindu British Prime Minister and a Muslim London Mayor can tell a story about modern Britain that transcends party politics.

Sadiq Khan at ABA Sadiq Khan at Asian Business Awards 2022

Yet an increasingly diverse Britain has never had a proactive agenda for integration. Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak, and their Labour rivals Lisa Nandy and Keir Starmer, should compete to change that. Some cities and towns have shown more local commitment than others. The pilot integration action areas saw positive effects during the pandemic. The Leicester disturbances illustrated why places of good relations need to keep doing that work in every generation.

Comment inset Sunder Sunder Katwala

One in six 2021 census respondents - ten million people - were born abroad. Net migration has spiked again for exceptional reasons, with a quarter of a million refugees welcomed from Ukraine this year. Politicians will keep debating those numbers and who gets a visa to study and work. What is missing is enough focus on what happens next: to welcome incomers, manage local impacts fairly, promote contact, and encourage those who settle to become citizens.  Out of five million people for whom English or Welsh is not their main language, the new census data show that a million people can’t speak English well or at all. The government should have a strategy for universal English fluency within this decade.

What the 2021 census data shows that the question has long ceased to be whether Britain will be a multi-ethnic society or not. The 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush next year marks the fourth generation of this modern, diverse Britain. Our question in the 2020s is how to talk and act to unlock the potential of our growing diversity for the common good, in ways that feel fair to minorities and majorities alike. We should find confidence - but not complacency - in how we handle this changing Britain if we make that our common goal.

More For You

Why this was the year of governing anxiously

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer at the state opening of parliament in July after Labour won the general elections by a landslide

Why this was the year of governing anxiously

THIS year was literally one of two halves in the British government.

Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer each had six months in Downing Street, give or take a handful of days in July. Yet this was the year of governing anxiously.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Debate over assisted dying raises risks for medical staff’
Supporters of the ‘Not Dead Yet’ campaign outside parliament last Friday (29) in London

‘Debate over assisted dying raises risks for medical staff’

Dr Raj Persaud

AFTER five hours of debate over assisted dying, a historic private members’ bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons. This is a stunning change in the way we as a nation consider ending our lives.

We know from survey research that the religious tend to be against assisted dying. Given Asians in the UK tend to be more religious, comparatively, it is likely that Asians in general are less supportive of this new proposed legislation, compared to the general public.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘It’s time for UK-India ties to focus on a joint growth story’
Kanishka Narayan (centre) with fellow visiting British MPs, Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma (left) and other officials

‘It’s time for UK-India ties to focus on a joint growth story’

Kanishka Narayan

FOUR months since my election to parliament, I had the opportunity to join my parliamentary colleagues on a delegation to India, visiting Delhi and Jaipur for conversations with our Indian counterparts, business leaders and academics.

I went to make the case for Indian investment in my constituency and across the UK.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Ministers must unveil vision for bridging societal divides’
(From left) Professor Ted Cantle, Sunder Katwala, Sara Khan and John Denham at the event

‘Ministers must unveil vision for bridging societal divides’

Sunder Katwala

“SOCIAL cohesion is not the absence of riots.”

John Denham put that central point pithily at the ‘After the Riots’ cohesion summit last week.

Keep ReadingShow less
‘Policy reforms should not halt development’
Environmental policies and grid delays are slowing the delivery of new homes

‘Policy reforms should not halt development’

Amit Bhatia

SINCE 2006, Summix has specialised in securing planning for strategic land and urban, mixed-use regeneration projects.

Working with our development partners, we have successfully delivered more than 6,000 homes in the UK. We continue to bring forward strategic residential development sites with over 18,000 homes in our current pipeline, including a new settlement for 10,000 homes at Worcestershire Parkway, which was recently referenced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her inaugural speech.

Keep ReadingShow less