UK Ethnic Group coding
ONS United Kingdom Census 2001 - Ethnic categories. As of the 2001 census, the current detailed framework of ethnic coding is given below.
CODE and DESCRIPTION
WHITE
MIXED
- 21 White and Black Caribbean
- 22 White and Black African
- 23 White and Asian
- 24 Black and Asian
- 25 Black and Chinese
- 26 Black and White
- 27 Chinese and White
- 28 Asian and Chinese
- 29 Other Mixed, Mixed Unspecified
ASIAN OR ASIAN BRITISH
- 41 Indian or Indian British
- 42 Pakistani or Pakistani British
- 43 Bangladeshi or Bangladeshi British
- 44 Mixed Asian
- 45 Hindu
- 46 Moslem
- 47 Sikh
- 48 Punjabi
- 49 Kashmiri
- 50 East African Asian
- 51 Other Asian, British Asian, Asian Unspecified
BLACK OR BLACK BRITISH
- 61 Caribbean
- 62 African
- 63 Mixed Black
- 64 Somali
- 65 Other Black, Black British, Black Unspecified
CHINESE OR OTHER
- 81 Chinese
- 82 Africa - colour not defined
- 83 Middle East
- 84 Arab
- 85 Vietnamese
- 86 Any Other Group
2001 Census Ethnic results
The 2001 Census results on ethnicity and religion show that 87.5 per cent of the population of England and Wales (seven out of eight people) gave their ethnic group as White British. The highest proportions describing themselves as White British were in the North East, Wales and the South West (all over 95 per cent). 87% of the population of England and 96% of the population of Wales gave their ethnic origin as "White British". There were two Census questions in 2001 on the topic of ethnicity.
1. "What is your country of birth?" with tick box options of: England; Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland; Republic of Ireland and Elsewhere.
2. Ethnic Group. A change from the 1991 survey was that people could tick "mixed" for the first time. It asked "What is your ethnic group? People were asked to select one section from A to E, then tick the appropriate box to indicate their cultural background.
- A White. Tick box options of: British; Irish or Any other White background.
- B Mixed. Tick box options of: White and Black Caribbean; White and Black African; White and Asian or any other Mixed background.
- C Asian or Asian British. Tick box options of: Indian; Pakistani; Bangladeshi; Any other Asian background.
- D Black or Black British. Tick box options of: Caribbean; African; Any other Black background.
- E Chinese or other ethnic group. Tick box options of: Chinese; Any other.
Proposed changes to the 2011 Census regarding "Ethnic Group"
There have been widespread calls for the 2011 national census to include extra tick boxes so people can identify their ethnic group in category A as Welsh, English and Cornish[1][2] (at present the tick boxes only include British, Irish or any other. Although people could record their individual nationalities in the United Kingdom Census 2001, there was no provision for a tick box so that people could clearly identify as part of these ethnic groups. By not having this option in the survey there have been some claims of racial discrimination against these groups.
Some experts, community and special interest group respondents also pointed out that the 'Black African' category is too broad. They remarked that the category does not provide enough information on the considerable diversity that exists within the various populations currently classified under this heading. This concealed heterogeneity ultimately makes the gathered data of limited use analytically. To remedy this, the Muslim Council of Britain proposes that this census category be broken down into specific ethnic groups:[3]
It would be helpful to break down the 'Black African' category to distinguish between Nigerians and Somalis... 'Other Black background' is ambiguous.
See also
References
- ^ Fight goes on to include Cornish ethnicity and language in Census 2011 options
- ^ Cornish ethnicity data from the 2001 Census
- ^ Summary report: experts, community and special interest groups
External links
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