Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
People from various ethnic groups reside in
the United Kingdom. For most of the last
millennium, the lands now constituting the
United Kingdom were largely inhabited by
English, Scots,
Irish, Welsh people and
Cornish people. Since World War II, however,
substantial immigration from the New Com-
monwealth, Europe, and the rest of the world
has considerably altered the demographic
make-up of many cities
in
the United
Kingdom.
Native population
Further information: Prehistoric settlement
of Great Britain and Ireland, White Brit-
ish, English
people, Irish
people, Scottish
people, Welsh people, and Cornish people
The United Kingdom Census 2001 subsumes
the native populations of Great Britain
"White British". 85.7% or 50.4 million of UK
population fell into this category. The native
population of
Ireland was described as
"White Irish", accounting for 1.2% or 0.7 mil-
lion. According to the CIA Factbook, 77% of
UK population, or 45 million people are Eng-
lish, 8% or 4.7 million are Scottish, 4.5% or
2.7 million are Welsh and 2.8% or 1.6 million
are Northern Irish. [1]
More recent migration
In recent years there has been sustained pos-
ition net immigration into the United King-
dom from all sections of the globe.[2][3] Lon-
don is often cited as the most ethnically di-
verse city in the world.[4]
Western Europeans
Irish
From the independence of the Republic of
Ireland in 1922 until 1949 citizens of that
country retained their status as British sub-
jects and also legal right to settle in the Un-
ited Kingdom. From 1949 onwards they have
had to meet the same criteria as other na-
tionalities to settle in the United Kingdom
(see British nationality law and the Republic
of Ireland) and hundreds of thousands have
done so. In 2001 790,000 people were born
in Ireland, although there are thought to be
millions more 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations.
The Irish are the largest white minority in the
United Kingdom. The major areas of settle-
ment for the Irish population are Liverpool,
Glasgow,
Ma