Demographics of Leicester

Leicester, England is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. It is the thirteenth most populous city in the United Kingdom.

Population

Leicester's total population, according to the 2011 UK census, was 329,839. The population density was 4,494 people per square km.

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Leicester. The local district has been in a majority-minority state since around 2008 and was reported in the 2011 census to be that, with the White British population at 45% of the population of Leicester. Asian British residents, especially Indians, have risen since post-war migration to the UK began, famously Asians from Uganda who were expelled in 1972. In 1991, Asians as a broad multi-ethnic group made up nearly a quarter of the city's population but have risen to above a third of the population at 37.1%. Black British people have also risen as a group with the increase mostly coming from Black Africans who have risen from 0.3% of the city's population to nearly 4%.

Ethnic group1961 estimations1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 censusData is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England, Scotland and Wales (Table 6)2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total267,47097.8%255,92890%207,10978.6%202,33271.1%178,73963.85%166,63650.52%150,65740.88% White: British–––––– – – 169,456 60.54% 148,629 45.06%122,39533.21% White: Irish––––––4,1341.52% 3,602 1.29% 2,524 0.77%1,7890.49% White: Gypsy or Irish TravellerNew category created for the 2011 census–––––– – – – – 417 0.13%4570.12% White: RomaNew category created for the 2021 census–––––– – – – – – –8390.23% White: Other–––––– – – 5,681 2.03% 15,066 4.57%25,1776.83%Asian or Asian British: Total3,7421.4%––48,92318.6%72,06925.3%85,17730.43%122,47037.13%159,97743.40% Asian or Asian British: Indian––––44,13216.7%64,66922.7% 72,033 25.73% 93,335 28.30%126,42134.30% Asian or Asian British: Pakistani––––1,8270.7%2,827 1% 4,276 1.53% 8,067 2.45%12,6733.44% Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi––––5911,131 1,926 0.69% 3,642 1.10%7,0551.91% Asian or Asian British: ChineseIn 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.––––495716 1,426 0.51% 4,245 1.29%2,4810.67% Asian or Asian British: Other Asian ––––1,8780.7%2,726 0.9% 5,516 1.97% 13,181 4.00%11,3473.08%Black or Black British: Total––––5,3002%7,0652.5%8,5953.07%20,5856.24%28,7667.80% Black or Black British: Caribbean––––3,3821.3%4,394 1.5% 4,610 1.65% 4,790 1.45%5,0251.36% Black or Black British: African––––568782 3,432 1.23% 12,480 3.78%21,5365.84% Black or Black British: Other Black––––1,3501,889 553 0.20% 3,315 1.01%2,7640.75%Mixed: Total––––––––6,5062.32%11,5803.51%13,8993.77% Mixed: White and Black Caribbean –––––– – – 2,841 1.01% 4,691 1.42%5,0251.36% Mixed: White and Black African –––––– – – 539 0.19% 1,161 0.35%1,7760.48% Mixed: White and Asian –––––– – – 1,908 0.68% 3,388 1.03%3,6590.99% Mixed: Other Mixed –––––– – – 1,218 0.44% 2,340 0.71%3,4390.75%Other: Total––––2,2660.9%3,2341.1%9040.32%8,5682.60%15,2724.14% Other: ArabNew category created for the 2011 census–––––– – – – – 3,311 1.00%3,4020.92% Other: Any other ethnic group –––––– 904 0.32% 5,257 1.59%11,8703.22%Ethnic minority: Total6,0002.2%28,28010%56,48921.4%82,36828.9%101,18236.15%163,20349.48%217,91459.12%Total273,470100%284,208100%263,598100%284,700100%279,921100%329,839100%368,571100%

Notes for table above

Ethnicity of school pupils The ethnicity of school pupils within Leicester has been in flux and in a majority-minority state since statistics have been first collected in 2003. For instance, the most profound change can be seen with the White British, who have declined from 45.6% in 2004 to 23.4% in 2022. Asian British school pupils have risen in percentage, going from 37.9% of the areas school pupil population to a near majority (47%). All other groups have grown in size as well. Other White school pupils have risen from 1.7% to 7.8%, Black British school pupils have risen from 6.4% to 10.4% in 2016 but then declined to 9.5% in 2022, Mixed have risen from 5.5% to 7.5% and Other ethnicities have gone from 0.8% to 2.7%. Ethnic groupSchool year19712004200820122015/162021/2022Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total–86.5%19,48048.1%16,72042.4%15,51539%16,58336.6%18,90531.8%White: British––18,49045.6%15,09038.3%13,25833.3%13,21529.1%13,89023.4%White: Irish––190133867365White: Traveller of Irish heritage––7035506147White: Gypsy/Roma––3030139235266White: Other––7001.7%1,4321,9782,9994,6377.8%Asian / Asian British: Total––15,36037.9%15,92440.4%16,51241.5%19,68243.4%27,90647%Asian / Asian British: Indian––12,15030%12,26731.1%12,04930.3%14,17931.3%19,85533.4%Asian / Asian British: Pakistani––1,0201,2271,3821,7242,557Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi––5606388269941,617Asian / Asian British: Chinese––807980113169Asian / Asian British: Other Asians––1,5503.8%1,7132,1752,6723,7086.2%Black / Black British: Total––2,6106.4%3,4508.7%4,05010.2%4,72610.4%5,6809.5%Black: Caribbean––590534505500454Black: African––1,8604.6%2,5763,1303,5894,3907.4%Black: Other Blacks––160337415637836Mixed / British Mixed––2,2305.5%2,4406.2%2,7306.9%3,0826.8%4,4577.5%Other: Total––3100.8%5341.4%6501.6%9102%1,6182.7%Unclassified––5701.4%1520.4%3120.8%3840.8%8331.4%Non-White: Total–13.5%51.9%57.6%61%63.4%68.2%Total:–100%40,540100%39,430100%39,765100%45,367100%59,399100% Ethnicity of births Ethnic Group1981 estimates2021Number%Number%White: Total–66%1,36232.6%White: British––89721.5%White: Other––46511.1%Asian / Asian British: Total––1,85844.6%Asian / Asian British: Indian––1,38433.2%Asian / Asian British: Pakistani––1764.2%Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi––1112.7%Asian / Asian British: Other Asians––1874.5%Black / Black British: Total––3247.7%Black: Caribbean––270.6%Black: African––2586.2%Black: Other Blacks––390.9%Mixed / British Mixed––3317.9%Other: Total––1303.1%Not Stated––1674.0%Non-White: Total (not including Not stated)–33%2,64363.3%Total:–100%4,172100%

Country of birth

Country of BirthYear1971Taken from Casweb UK Data Service from the 1971 UK wide Census. SAS08 of Country of Birth of England.1981Taken from Casweb UK Data Service from the 1981 UK wide Census. Table 4 of Country of Birth in Scotland.1991Data taken from 1991 census data query on NOMIS2001Census 2001 Key Statistics – Local Authorities KS05 Country of birth, Accessed 19 December 202220112011 Census: KS202EW National identity, local authorities in England and Wales, Accessed 19 December 20222021Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%242,25587.4%223,68181%217,65680.4%215,45577%218,99666.4%217,07858.9%234,55184.6%216,72978.5%212,01078.4%214,40365%213,55557.9%4,0063,7082,8542,33018210.49%2,2431,9471,7261,38010780.29%1,455 –1,0197815900.16% (not otherwise specified)1,29747841024670.13%Europe (non-UK)9,0153.3%7,4722.7%6,1802.3%7,5632.7%19,6896%31,8808.6%4,8073,8903,0992,4861,9331,2400.34%Other EEC/EU1,5320.6%1,7500.6%3,0211.1%15,9274.8%Other Europe4,2082,0501,3312,0561,82931,8808.6%Asia and Middle East12,5674.5%20,1127.3%23,6238.7%30,50110.9%55,10816.7%79,37221.5%11,3654.1%18,2386.6%20,8377.7%24,67759,84216.2%7589121,1621,8544,9891.4%3976861,0513,2330.9%Far East4445656571,751Middle East –281771Other4Africa7,0882.6%19,0826.9%18,3276.8%22,0567.9%31,9839.7%33,5429.1%North America and Caribbean2,8701%2,5500.9%2,9091%3,5452,825South America169Oceania–539516447Other: New CommonwealthUsed as main option for when no other options are given, for example in 1971. This group contains all for Canada, Australia and New Zealand444493Other: Old CommonwealthUsed as a conglomerate for New Commonwealth for when there are no other options as for example in 1971. This group contains all for remenents of the British Empire after 1945 (if not already indicated).402628455Other:25482,2266452Total277,189100%276,244100%270,525100%279,921100%329,839100%368,570100%

Languages

The most common main languages spoken in Leicester according to the 2011 census are shown below. There were around over 70 languages or dialects spoken in the city in 2011.

Rank Language Usual residents aged 3+ Proportion 1 English 228,295 72.47% 2 Gujarati 36,347 11.54% 3 Punjabi 7,560 2.40% 4 Polish 6,192 1.97% 5 Urdu 3,376 1.07% 6 Somali 3,331 1.06% 7 Arabic 2,516 0.80% 8 Bengali 1,808 0.57% 9 Portuguese 1,750 0.56% 10 Kurdish 1,520 0.48% 11 Tamil 1,498 0.48% 12 Hindi 1,095 0.35% 13 Persian 1,021 0.32% 14 Slovak 878 0.28% 15 French 849 0.27% 16 Shona 801 0.25% 17 Turkish 584 0.19% 18 Greek 546 0.17% 19 Swahili/Kiswahili 533 0.17% 20 Tagalog/Filipino 496 0.16% Other 14,015 4.45%

Religion

The following table shows the religion of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Leicester. In 2012, almost 240 individual faith groups were reported to being practised in Leicester.

Religion1980s estimations200120112021Number%Number%Number%Number% Christian –– 125,187 44.72% 106,872 32.40% 91,161 24.73% Buddhist –– 638 0.23% 1,224 0.37% 1,181 0.32% Hindu –– 41,248 14.74% 50,087 15.19% 65,821 17.86% Jewish –– 417 0.15% 295 0.09% 326 0.09% Muslim 7,000– 30,885 11.03% 61,440 18.63% 86,443 23.45% Sikh –– 11,796 4.21% 14,457 4.38% 16,451 4.46% Other religion –– 1,179 0.42% 1,839 0.56% 2,075 0.56% No religion –– 48,789 17.43% 75,280 22.82% 84,607 22.96% Religion not stated –– 19,782 7.07% 18,345 5.56% 20,509 5.56% Total –100% 279,921 100.00% 329,839 100.00% 368,574 100.00%

Demographics of Leicester

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