Profiles of the Census 2001 ethnic groups
- White groups:
- Asian groups:
- Mixed groups:
- Black groups:
- Chinese or Other groups:
See also
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This page was last updated on 10 November 2006
People living in Britain
The White British group
Total population in Britain: 50,366,497
Proportion of all people in Britain: 88%
Source: Census 2001, Office for National Statistics; Census 2001 General Register Office for Scotland
The indigenous population of Britain, English, Scottish and Welsh, is classified in the Census in England and Wales as White British. The majority of people identified as this group, 98 per cent, were born in the UK. In Scotland, White British is not a Census category; instead there is a choice of White Scottish and Other White British. The figures in this text are a conflation of thee categories from the Census 2001 Scotland and the White British category from the Census 2001 England and Wales.
Age profile
The White British population has an older profile then most other groups, with a high proportion of people above retirement age. There are fairly equal numbers of men and women, although as the population gets older women outnumber men which reflects their longer average life expectancy. There are a couple of distinct surges in the population among people in their 50s and 30s which is the result of the baby boom after the Second World war and again in the 1960s.
Religions
Historically Britain has been a Christian country, and 76 per cent of the White British population continue to describe themselves as Christians. A significant number, 15 per cent, state they have no religion. The third largest group among White Britons is Jewish and, although they make up only 0.4 per cent of the ethnic groups, they comprise the majority, 84 per cent, of Jews in Britain.
