Ethnicity in Stoke-on-Trent

2011 Census Data

1. Overview

Data in this report is taken from the 2011 census, which provides information about the usual
resident population of England and Wales as at the census date - the latest census was on
27 March 2011. All data from the 2011 census is available at the Office of National Statistics
(ONS).

The England and Wales census first asked the ethnic group question in 1991. The question
provides information on the population’s ethnic characteristics. This information can be used
by private and public organisations to monitor equal opportunities and anti-discrimination
policies and to plan for the future through resource allocation and informing provision of
services. Since 1991 the number of tick boxes has grown from nine to 18 in 2011 along with
some changes to tick box labels, placement and questions. Changes to the questionnaire
were made to improve data collection and accuracy of the results; some improvements will
affect direct comparability of 2011 and 2001 statistics.

Collecting data on ethnic group is complex because of the subjective, multifaceted and
changing nature of ethnic identification. There is no consensus on what constitutes an ethnic
group and membership is something that is self-defined and subjectively meaningful to the
person concerned.

The terminology used to describe ethnic groups has changed markedly over time and
however defined or measured, tends to evolve in the context of social and political attitudes
or developments. Ethnic group is also very diverse, encompassing common ancestry and
elements of culture, identity, religion, language and physical appearance1

1
ONS 2011 Census Guidance and Methodology – www.ons.gov.uk
2. National context

Over the last two decades England and Wales has become more ethnically diverse although
caution is needed when comparing census ethnic data over the years due to changes and
increases in tick boxes and changes to how the wording of questions (change from cultural to
ethnic background).

Key points from the 2011 census:

o White was the majority ethnic group at 48.2 million in 2011 (86.0%). Within this ethnic
group, White British was the largest group at 45.1 million (80.5%). The White ethnic
group accounted for 86.0% of the usual resident population in 2011, a decrease from
91.3% in 2001 and 94.1% in 1991.
o White British and White Irish decreased between 2001 and 2011. The remaining
ethnic groups increased. Any Other White background had the largest increase of
1.1 million (1.8 percentage points).
o Within the White ethnic group, White British had decreased from 87.5% in 2001 to
80.5% in 2011.
o Across the English regions and Wales, London was the most ethnically diverse area,
and Wales the least. The West Midlands was the second most ethnically diverse
region.
o People identifying as Gypsy or Irish Traveller and Arab represented only a small
proportion of the usual resident population and were concentrated in certain areas in
England and Wales. The highest proportion of people who identified as Gypsy or Irish
Traveller was found in the South East and East of England. Two London boroughs had
the highest proportion of people who identified as Arab.
Ethnic groups by English regions and Wales, 2011
Mixed/
Black/African/
Multiple Asian/Asian Other Ethnic
White Caribbean/
Ethnic British Groups
Black British
Groups
England and Wales 86.0 2.2 7.5 3.3 1.0
North East 95.3 0.9 2.9 0.5 0.4
North West 90.2 1.6 6.2 1.4 0.6
Yorkshire and the Humber 88.8 1.6 7.3 1.5 0.8
East Midlands 89.3 1.9 6.5 1.8 0.6
West Midlands 82.7 2.4 10.8 3.3 0.9
East of England 90.8 1.9 4.8 2.0 0.5
London 59.8 5.0 18.5 13.3 3.4
South East 90.7 1.9 5.2 1.6 0.6
South West 95.4 1.4 2.0 0.9 0.3
Wales 95.6 1.0 2.3 0.6 0.5
Source: Census 2011 - ONS

Further breakdown of the data for Asian / Asian British and Black / African / Caribbean /
Black British groups show that the West Midlands had a higher than average percentage of
minority ethnic groups: Pakistani at 4.1%, Indian at 3.9% and Caribbean at 1.5%.

Data for the White ethnic group in the West Midlands, shows a lower than average group at
82.7%. This includes White British at 79.2%.

3. Local context

The ethnic groups in this report are made up as follows:

o White – English / Welsh / Scottish / Northern Irish / British / Irish / Other White
o Mixed / Multiple Ethnic Groups – White and Black Caribbean / White and Black
African / White and Asian / Other Mixed
o Asian / Asian British: Indian
o Asian / Asian British: Pakistani
o Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi
o Asian / Asian British: Chinese
o Asian / Asian British: Other Asian
3
o Black / African / Caribbean / Black British – African / Caribbean / Other Black
o Other Ethnic Group – Arab / Any Other Ethnic Group

The following table sets out the ethnicity breakdown for Stoke-on-Trent as recorded in
the 2011 census

% of
Stoke-on-Trent UA Number
population

White 220,529 88.5

White Gypsy / Traveller / Irish Traveller 183 0.1
Mixed / Multiple Ethnic Groups 4,491 1.8
Asian / Asian British: Indian 2,329 0.9
Asian / Asian British: Pakistani 10,429 4.2
Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi 1,097 0.4
Asian / Asian British: Chinese 1,224 0.5
Asian / Asian British: Other Asian 3,363 1.4
Black / African / Caribbean / Black British 3,741 1.5
Other Ethnic Group 1,622 0.7
Total 249,008 100.00%

The following table and chart shows the ethnic makeup of the city’s usual resident
population and how that compares with the usual resident populations of England and
the West Midlands.

4
 2011 census - All usual residents ethnic group (number and percentage of the population)
Local, national and regional comparisons

Stoke-on-Trent England West Midlands

Ethnic Group number % number % number %

White 220,529 88.5 45,226,247 85.4 4,628,935 82.5

White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller 183 0.1 54,895 0.1 4,734 0.1
Mixed/multiple ethnic groups 4,491 1.8 1,192,879 2.3 131,714 2.4
Asian/Asian British: Indian 2,329 0.9 1,395,702 2.6 218,439 3.9
Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 10,429 4.2 1,112,282 2.1 227,248 4.1
Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi 1,097 0.4 436,514 0.8 52,477 0.9
Asian/Asian British: Chinese 1,224 0.5 379,503 0.7 31,274 0.6
Asian/Asian British: Other Asian 3,363 1.4 819,402 1.5 74,997 1.3
Black/African/Caribbean/Black
3,741 1.5 1,846,614 3.5 182,125 3.3
British
Other ethnic group 1,622 0.7 548,418 1.0 49,904 0.9
All usual residents 249,008 53,012,456 5,601,847
Data source: ONS / nomis – official labour market statistics / https://www.nomisweb.co.uk

5
.

Although there has been a significant increase in the diversity of the city’s population
since 2001, the population is still much less diverse than the West Midlands region and
England as a whole.

The major differences between Stoke-on-Trent, the West Midlands and England are

o The percentage of people from the White non-British ethnic groups in England’s
population is nearly three times that in Stoke-on-Trent. The same group in the
West Midlands region is one and a half times that in Stoke-on-Trent.
o The percentage of people from Black / Black British ethnic groups in the West
Midlands and in England is more than double that in Stoke-on-Trent.
o The percentage of Asian / Asian British people overall is broadly similar
between Stoke-on-Trent and England, but the percentage of Asian / Asian
British people in the West Midlands is more than one and a half times that of
both - nearly 11% of the population.

The percentage of people in the White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group is broadly
the same across Stoke-on-Trent, England and West Midlands.

6
4. Further Local Breakdown

Census ethnicity data can be further broken down to ward level. It should be noted that
new electoral arrangements were introduced in Stoke-on-Trent for the 2011 general and
local elections. The new arrangements saw the number of electoral wards increase from
20 to 37. As the new ward boundaries are not coterminous with the wards under the
previous arrangements, it is not possible to compare ward population data from 2001
and 2011.

The following table sets out the usual resident population of the main ethnic groups in
each ward of the local authority area.

7
 The data set out in the foregoing table is available in the accompanying Excel
spreadsheet ‘2011_ethnicity by ward’

5 Ethnicity and gender

The table below sets out the male / female split for the ethnic groups found within the
usual resident population in the city.

Male / female split for the ethnic groups Stoke-on-Trent

found within the usual resident population All
of Stoke-on-Trent Males % Females %
persons
All categories: Ethnic group 249,008 123,995 49.80% 125,013 50.20%
White 220,529 108,624 49.30% 111,905 50.79%
Gypsy or Irish Traveller 183 90 49.18% 93 50.82%
Mixed/multiple ethnic group 4,491 2,265 50.43% 2,226 49.57%
Asian/Asian British: Indian 2,329 1,439 61.79% 890 38.21%
Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 10,429 5,265 50.48% 5,164 49.52%
Asian/Asian British: Bangladeshi 1,097 547 49.86% 550 50.14%
Asian/Asian British: Chinese 1,224 644 52.61% 580 47.39%
Asian/Asian British: Other Asian 3,363 1,967 58.49% 1,396 41.51%
Black/African/Caribbean/Black British: Total 3,741 2,058 55.01% 1,683 44.99%
Other ethnic group 1,622 1,096 67.57% 526 32.43%
Data source: ONS 2011 census

Key points:

o The male / female split is broadly equal.

o The biggest difference in the number of males and females occurs in the Asian/Asian
British: Indian ethnic group where there are 549 more males than females.
o In the West Midlands, there are only 3 ethnic groups where the percentage
difference between men and women is more than 5%.
o There are about 5% more women than men in the Black Caribbean ethnic group
(52.5% female).
o The differences in the ‘Other’ ethnic group are much more significant with just
over 12% more men than women. The biggest difference is in the Arabic
community with nearly 58% men, a difference of just over 15%.

In England, the same pattern broadly applies – there are very few ethnic groups where
the male/ female split is significantly different from 50-50, only four where the difference
is more than 5%.

 three ethnic groups have more women than men – "White, Other" ethnic group
(52.5% female), Chinese (almost 53% female) and Black Caribbean (53.5%
female).
 the ethnic group one with more men than women is the "Other" ethnic group,
which in itself has nearly 11% more men than women, with the biggest difference
being in the Arabic community, which has just over 58% men – a difference of
16%.

Again, these differences are relatively small in terms of numbers of people – there are
nearly 750,000 more women than men who are from the White, British ethnic group but
only a 2% difference in the population.

6 Ethnicity and age

There are very significant differences in the ethnic make-up of the different age groups
within the city’s population.

The following chart shows the different ethnic makeup of the under 16 population, the
working age population (16-64 years) and the 65 and over population compared with
that of the city as a whole.

10
As the chart shows, the under 16 population is the most diverse, with just under 80% of
the population being White British, compared with 85% in the working age population
and over 95% in the 65 and over population. Nearly a fifth (19%) of the under 16
population are from non-white ethnic groups, compared with 11% of working age (almost
the same proportion as in the population as a whole) and only 2% in the 65 and over
group.

Comparison with West Midlands and England

The pattern is broadly similar in England and in the West Midlands – the following charts
show the equivalent information for each area.

11
12
In both, the under 16 age group is significantly the most diverse, with the West Midlands
having an even more diverse under 16 population than England as a whole – with only
70% of the population in the White, British ethnic group, compared with over 73% in
England, and over 25% belonging to non-white ethnic groups, compared with 22% in
England.

As is the case in Stoke-on-Trent, the working age population broadly reflects the overall
population of the area, and the pension age population is predominantly White British
although the percentage of non-white ethnic groups is higher in both England and the
West Midlands than it is in Stoke-on-Trent.

The charts below show the ethnic makeup of each of the smaller age groups (5 year age
groups) that make up the population of each area.

13
14
It is noticeable that in Stoke-on-Trent there are two key age groups where the level of
diversity in the population is much higher – in the 0-9 age group and the 24-35 age
group in the adult population. In both these age groups the percentage of the White
British population falls below 80%. This percentage increases steadily as the population
ages, rising from 88% in the 40-44 age group to over 96% in the 65+ population, and as
much as 97% of the 85+ population.

These changes suggest that there has been a significant inward migration to the city in
the ten years between the two census dates and a difference in the numbers of births
between the various ethnic groups – ageing in place would not have produced the
different levels of diversity shown between different age groups.

The pattern is broadly similar in the other two areas with significant changes in ethnic
mix in the two age groups identified in Stoke-on-Trent. The major difference between the
areas is in the ethnic groups contributing to the increase in diversity.

In England, the changes in diversity in the 0-9 age groups are made up of a number of
different ethnic groups, while the difference in the 25-34 age groups is predominantly
from the "Other White" ethnic group where there is a doubling compared with its average
across the whole population and from the Asian population which is one and a half times
larger than its average.

In the West Midlands the change of diversity in the 0-9 age groups is mainly from the
Asian ethnic groups, the largest proportion from the Pakistani ethnic group. The
difference in the 25-34 age group is a mixture of increases in the "Other White" ethnic
group and the Asian ethnic groups.

In Stoke-on-Trent, the increased diversity in the 0-9 age group is mainly from the
Pakistani ethnic group, but there are also increases in the Mixed or Multiple ethnic group
and in the other Asian ethnic groups. The changes in the 25-34 age group are a mixture
of "Other White", and Asian ethnic groups, together with an increase in the Black,
African ethnic group.

15
 7 Contact details and stakeholders

Please contact the following people if you have any queries about the data contained in
this report or require further information.

Name Job title Organisation 

Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Kevin Taylor Policy Officer / People: Strategic kevin.taylor@stoke.gov.uk
Governance and Planning

Knowledge Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Celia Challis Management / People: Strategic celia.challis@stoke.gov.uk
Officer Governance and Planning

Attachments

 Ethnicity by ward.xls

Date Updated November 2014

Strategic Governance and Planning Team,

Updated by People Directorate, Stoke-on-Trent City
Council

16