The ethnic minority populations of Great Britain: their estimated sizes and age profiles

This article considers the available estimates of the total ethnic minority population since 1979, and gives the estimated sizes of the different ethnic minority populations in 1994 and their age composition. Overall, the total ethnic minority population is estimated to have been 3.2 million in 1994, 5.7 per cent of the population of Great Britain. The Indian population, the largest, is estimated to have formed about one quarter of the total ethnic minority population, and the Pakistani, the next largest, approximately one sixth. The ethnic groups from the Indian sub-continent--Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi--accounted for about one half of the total ethnic minority population. The Black-Caribbean population formed just under one in 6, and the Black-African about one in 11, of the total ethnic minority population. The populations of mixed ethnic origin--the Black-Mixed and Other--Mixed-were the youngest, followed by the Black-Other, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Black-African, Indian, Black-Caribbean, and Chinese populations. All of these ethnic minority populations were younger in age profile than the White population.