White people in the United Kingdom are a multi-ethnic group consisting of British residents who identify as and are perceived to be "white people." White people constitute the historical and current majority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 83.1% of the population identifying as white in the 2021 United Kingdom census.
The Office for National Statistics designates white people into several subgroups, with small terminology variations between the administrative jurisdictions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These are local: White British, White Irish, White Gypsy or Irish Traveller, and immigrant descended Other White, and in Scotland; White Polish. In Northern Ireland ethnic group data is collected differently, where only the term 'White' is used, and with National Identity ('British', 'Irish', 'Northern Irish', or combinations) collected separately.
British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, and can influence who may be defined, whether informally, in media and academia, or British Government statistics, as "white Britons" or "white British people." In censuses, millions of white people in the United Kingdom who hold British citizenship do not identify with the White British ethnicity classification, as they descended from places outside of the geographical area of the British Islands, such as Continental Europe.
Outside of the census, white people in Great Britain have been the subject of academic research, and have featured in public discourse in international and British media, in which they often are identified as a broad racial or social class within the country.
Terminology and background In the 2021 census for England and Wales, 81.7% of the population identified as White, but only 74.4% identified as "White British" (inclusive of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish). This leaves a gap of roughly 7.3% of the total population - about 4.3 million people who identify as White but choose a different ethnic classification.
Census
Within the Census in the United Kingdom, the Office for National Statistics collects information on white people who are resident in the United Kingdom, regardless of citizenship status. As censuses have progressed each decade, further categories have been included to accommodate subgroupings of white people in the country. As of the 2011 census, these subgroups are White British, White Irish, White Gypsy or Irish Traveller, White Polish (in Scotland), and Other White. There are small variations between the phrasing or terminology of these categories across the administrative regions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.2011 Census: KS201UK Ethnic group, local authorities in the United Kingdom ONS, Retrieved 21 October 2013
Use in academia and government The UK Government uses the category of white people to help define and understand demography in the country. Devolved administrations, such as the Scottish Government and Welsh Government make use of the racial category for social and equality impacts. Ministerial departments such as the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, non-ministerial, such as the Cabinet Office and office for Mayor of London, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, and public bodies such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and UK Statistics Authority, have produced research and analysis on what they have defined as white persons within the country.
Academic, research and statistical organisations, such as British Election Study, NatCen Social Research and ICM Research, Savanta ComRes, define and categorise whites living in the UK, in order to study and poll respondents of all backgrounds. Think tanks, including the Policy Studies Institute, Resolution Foundation, Smith Institute and Social Issues Research Centre, utilise the grouping of white people in the United Kingdom, along with Stroke Association and Trades Union Congress.
Sociologists, social scientists, and academics of race and ethnicity, such as Peter J. Aspinall, Richard Dyer and Mary J. Hickman identify whites in Britain as an intersecting social and racial category.
White Irish University of the West of Scotland's Chris Gilligan argues that; "The idea that White people in the United Kingdom constitute a race or ethnic group is based on racialised thinking. It works with the logic of the race relations framework, it does not challenge it." In her 2015 research, University of Southampton fellow Rosalind Willis studied the intersection of the White Irish category in England, where there have been examples of distinctions made against the White British which are culturally rejected or ignored. In this regard, professor Mary J. Hickman has written how a combination of othering the ethnic Irish, and a presupposition of the positivity of integration, has provided "tacit support for the 'myth of homogeneity' of white people in Britain".
In July 2019, the East Ham constituency Labour branch was criticised for its election of a white Irish woman as the women’s officer for its Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) forum. The woman in question self-identified as being an ethnic minority and no objections within the branch were raised against her election. Branch secretary, Syed Taqi Shah commented that "if somebody self-declares [as BAME], and the Labour Party allows them to do so, they should be respected."
Demographics
White people are the current and historical majority of the United Kingdom's population. The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded 55,010,359 of White and 63,193 of Gypsy/Traveller/Irish Traveller ethnicity, making a total white population of 55,073,552 or 87.2 per cent of the total population. These figures did not include self-reported people of mixed ethnicity.
Population in constituent nations of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom NUTS 1 Region'sYear1971 estimations1981 estimations1991As UK Census data past 2001 is unavailable through the ONS website, it has been recommended to use archival census collection websites to obtain data. Data is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England (Table 6)200120112021NumberPercentageNumberPercentageNumberPercentageNumberPercentageNumberPercentageNumberPercentageNorthern Ireland–––––– 1,672,698 99.25% 1,779,750 98.28% 1,841,713 96.77%– 99.6% 4,908,140 99.1% 4,935,933 98.74% 4,960,334 97.99% 5,084,407 96.02% 5,051,875 92.9%– 99.6% 2,788,533 99.1% 2,793,522 98.5% 2,841,505 97.9% 2,928,253 95.6% 2,915,848 94.2%––– 95.4% 44,144,339 93.8% 44,679,361 91% 45,281,142 85.4% 45,783,401 81%North East England–99.6%2,544,06999%2,507,13398.6%2,455,41697.61%2,475,56795.32%2,462,72093.1%South West England––––4,546,84898.6%4,815,31697.7%5,046,42995.41%5,309,60893.1%North West England–98.7%6,580,84097.5%6,480,13196.3%6,355,49594.43%6,361,71690.2%6,347,39485.6%Yorkshire and the Humber–98.1%4,600,34196.8%4,622,50395.6%4,641,26393.48%4,691,95688.8%4,679,96585.5%East of England–99.3%–98.5%4,891,67596.8%5,125,00395.11%5,310,19490.81%5,478,36486.5%East Midlands–98%3,598,62596.2%3,765,38995.2%3,900,38093.48%4,046,35689.26%4,179,77485.7%South East England––––7,271,25696.9%7,608,98995.10%7,827,82090.65%8,009,38086.2%West Midlands–95.9%4,716,95093.5%4,725,82491.8%4,674,29688.74%4,633,66982.7%4,585,02477%Greater London–92.6%5,663,49685.7%5,333,58079.8%5,103,20371.2%4,887,43559.8%4,731,17253.8%Overall in the United Kingdom:–97.5%–96%51,873,79494.5%54,153,89892.12%55,073,55287.2%55,592,83783.0%
Population in metropolitan areas
Population in counties
Education In the 1991 census, white people were recorded as the most likely group to have tertiary education. By the 2001 census, this had changed, with British African-Caribbean females, and British Indian men and women, becoming more likely to be qualified to that level.
Based on the 1994 Policy Studies Institute's NSEM survey, an International Migration Review-published study determined a factor of this shift, finding that between the ages of 21–64, 13.8% of British Hindus held a higher education, versus what the study defined as 11.3% of "White Christians" in Britain. The Welsh Government's 2007 Minority Ethnic Youth Forum Report found that, based on 2005 ONS data; "Interestingly, Chinese, Black African, Indian and Other Asian groups are more likely to have degrees than white people in the UK." In England, since 2007, out of all ethnicities aged 18 years old who have received a state education, white pupils have had the lowest rate of entry into higher education and have also seen the lowest rate of increase, from 21.8% in 2007 to 32.2% in 2022. For comparison, 70.7% of Chinese pupils and 50.6% of Black pupils gained a higher education place in the same year.
History British Empire The history of the racial classification of white people has its roots in the establishment of European colonies in Asia, Africa and the Americas, where they encountered and lived alongside people of colour. The United Kingdom Historian Marika Sherwood writes that while there is no implication that "all whites in Britain were or became imbued with racism"; the classification of the "white race" rose in the nineteenth century due in part to the increasing rise of the eugenics and scientific racism movements of thought, with anthropologists classifying whites as distinct and separate race from other races such as Africans and Asians.
After physician John Fothergill disparagingly referred to them as "nabobs"; in 1767, the Daily Gazetteer, within the context of their return to England, made the accusation that West Indian planters (such as those involved with the East India Company) were corrupting Britain's political system, and who "being bred the tyrants of their slavish blacks, may endeavour to reduce the white [in Britain] to the same condition by an aristocracy".
Interwar and post-WWII periods Social scientist Peter J. Aspinall has analyzed how interracial marriage in the UK, as a phenomenon, caused societal reactions from whites in the interwar, and post-World War II periods. These included violence and racism against African-American GIs, Chinese seamen, and towards children from their relationships with white women. Aspinall, an expert in ethnicity, wrote:
Such experiences were shared by interracial people, couples and families throughout the twentieth century with their mere presence provoking or exacerbating the violence of white people in Britain, as evidenced during the numerous 'race riots', disturbances and attacks that occurred throughout the period.
This post-war period of history was recognised by Mill Hill School's marking of Black History Month, when the London school published a short history of the Windrush generation, including the abuse received by arrivals such as Floella Benjamin, exploring how; "Unfortunately, many white people in Britain did not welcome the new arrivals and Floella, and many like her were faced with hatred and cruelty." Politician Enoch Powell, who became known for his anti-immigrant Rivers of Blood speech, has been identified by some media as an early source of defining white people as a racial interest group within Britain. In 1971, Powell had argued that "whites are being held back to accommodate the Asiatics and blacks".
Late 20th century According to the ONS's quarterly Labour Force Survey, in 1993-1994 white people undertook more employer‐funded training per capita than minority groups in the UK. Analysis by economists, Michael Shields and Stephen Wheatley Price, suggested that the situation may represent a failure in United Kingdom employment equality laws. Anthony Lester, a key contributor to such legislation, stated in 1991 that "White people in Britain don't have the legacy of guilt about the past as there is in America about the period of slavery, even though there is plenty to be guilty about".