FOI Ref: FOI/2023/4955
You asked
Between the 2001 and 2021 UK censuses the "white British" ethnic group fell by about 1.2 million people. What percentage of this fall in population do you attribute to emigration specifically as opposed to other factors such as sub-replacement fertility or more mixed race relationships?
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
We have not undertaken any analysis on the relative impact of different factors affecting changes in the numbers of people identifying as "White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" in the Census in England and Wales.
There are many factors that could contribute to the increase or decrease in the percentage of the population of England and Wales who identified within the "White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British" ethnic group. These might include:
- Changes in the way individuals chose to self-identify between censuses.
- We specifically designed the search-as-you-type function to make it easier for people to self-define when completing census online. As stated in the Quality information affecting ethnic group, national identity, language and religion quality information for Census 2021, we believe the new functionality may have encouraged individuals to identify their ethnic group through writing it in.
- Changing population dynamics, for example, the age and sex profiles of ethnic groups.