Now we are going to talk about the Ethnic groups in the UK.

As we already know, The

United Kingdom is an ethnically diverse society. And here’s a chart that covers the
population percentages of these ethnic groups.

 By 2021 (twenty twenty one), the total population of England and Wales was 59.6 (fifty nine
point six) million, close to sixty million people. And most of the population, as in fourty-eight
poin seven million people were from white ethnic groups, most of whom are British.

 Five point five million people were from Asian ethnic groups – and while one point nine
million people were Indian, one point six million people were Pakistani.

 2.4 Two point four million people were from black ethnic groups – 1.5 one point five million
of those identified with the black African ethnic group (2.5%), and 0.6 million with the black
Caribbean ethnic group (1.0%)

 1.7 million people (2.9%) had mixed ethnicity – 0.5 million of those identified with the mixed
white and black Caribbean ethnic group (0.9%), and 0.5 million with the mixed white and
Asian ethnic group (0.8%)

 1.3 million people (2.1%) belonged to other ethnic groups – 0.9 million of those identified
with the ‘any other’ ethnic group (1.6%), and 0.3 million with the Arab ethnic group (0.6%)

Population movements from 1900 (nineteen hundred)

And now we come to the population movements from nineteen hundred.

Industrial areas with heavy population densities developed in the 19th century, but due to economic
and employment changes, significant internal shifts took place in Britain in the 20th century. There
were trade depressions in the 1920s (nineteen twenties) that badly affected coal production, steel
manufacture and other heavy industries and Since the 1950s, (nineteen fifties) there has been little
population increase in the industrial areas like Scotland and Ireland, South Wales but people from
these areas moved to English Midlands, London and South-east England where employment chances
were better.

Over the same period, there was a large immigration into Britain, mostly because of increase in the
number of asylum seekers. (asaylım)

Mass immigration to Britain began after the Second World War. The arrival of immigrants, an event
known as Empire Windrush, carried approximately 1,027 (one thousand twenty seven) passengers
from Jamaica to London on twenty-second June Nineteen fourty eight. From that date, nearly half a
million people left their homes in the Caribbean to live in Britain. They were all British citizens that
came to the UK for several reasons, primarily for better employment opportunities. And the
immigrant these groups have tended to settle in urban and inner-city areas throughout the country.
But By the middle of the century, there was a reverse movement of people away from the centres of
big cities, mostly because of the bomb damage from the Second World War. To avoid rural locations,
road systems were constructed with highways and bypasses, and rural areas near some cities were
designated as Green Belts, where no building was allowed. In British town planning, the green belt is
a policy for controlling urban growth. However, Green Belts and other rural locations are now
controversially being encroached upon for house building and infrastructure purposes (like roads and
railways), which can attract fierce local opposition, despite the need for more affordable housing and
more efficient transport systems.

Many people choose to live some distance from their workplaces, often in a city’s suburbs,
neighbouring towns or rural areas. This has contributed to the further decline of inner-city
populations and one British person in five now lives in the countryside with the rest in towns and
cities. There has been reverse population shift with some rural areas suffering economic decline and
people moving to urban centres where employment, leisure facilities and social opportunities may be
better. But recently urban centres, such as London, have also lost population because of high house
prices and some low-density areas outside London have seen gains.

Attiudes to national, ethnic and local identities

Even though Britain is a diverse country, Immigration has been seen as a threat to Britain for a long
time even though the British Isles have been culturally and ethnically diverse from the earliest
population movements. Minority ethnic groups within Britain have increased with more immigrants
and their descendants and fifty percent of these minority groups were born in Britain. Although the
government's attempts to introduce the concept of "Britishness", what it means to be British, the
term still lacks a precise definition so it is argued that the term Britishness needs the combination of
a 'civil' identity and 'ethnic' allegiance.

It is claimed that many ‘British’ people today do not have a strong sense of a ‘British’ identity like
Scottish people consider themselves as Scots but English people consider themselves as English
rather than British. Welsh people are also conscious of their differences from the English like their
national and cultural identity is grounded in their history, literature, the Welsh language. Similarly,
Scots unite in defence of their ethnic distinctiveness. They are conscious of their traditions, which are
reflected in cultural festivals, religious systems and language. And the Scots themselves are divided
by three languages as English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic.

Critics feel that the concept of Britishness is complicated. It seemed that Scottish and Welsh ethnic
identities have become stronger in the 21st century, and people in England were also increasingly
likely to see themselves as more English.

However, there has historically been some degree of integration between ethnic groups in Britain
over the centuries because of responses to foreign invasions, immigration, domestic conflicts and
internal migration between the four nations. Political unification gradually took place under the
English Crown; UK state power became concentrated in London; the English dominated numerically;
and institutional standardization tended to follow English models. The British identification was
largely derived from English norms because of England’s historical role. English nationalism was
arguably the most potent of the four nationalisms and the English mostly had no problem with a dual
identity. The Scots and Welsh have historically tended to be more aware of the difference between
their nationalism and Britishness; resent the English dominance; see themselves as different from the
English; and regard their cultural feelings as crucial. Their sense of identity is conditioned by the
tension between their distinctive histories and a centralized London government. Northern Ireland is
often characterized by the distinctiveness of the Unionist and Nationalist communities, conflicting
identities within both, and their respective relationships with the UK and Ireland.