This bulletin looks at the topic summary data from the 2021 Census for England and Wales for the ethnic groups of usual residents and household ethnic composition. The data was published on 29 November 2022 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It provides unrounded population and household estimates at North Wales and unitary authority level.

Since 1991, the census for England and Wales has included a question about ethnic group.

Main points

• The population of North Wales is much less ethnically diverse than across England and Wales as a whole. There has been little change in the last decade in the overall proportions within each high-level ethnic group.
• 96.8% of the population (665,147 people) identified as “White” in the 2021 Census. This proportion is high when compared to national figures (England and Wales = 81.7% and Wales = 93.8%). The proportion was highest in Anglesey at 98.1% and lowest in Wrexham at 96.0%.
• Within the “White” category 93.3% of the total population identified as “Welsh, English, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”. (Wales = 90.6% and England and Wales = 74.4%). In North Wales the proportion was highest in Anglesey at 96.3% and lowest in Wrexham at 90.7%.
• Though the overall proportion of people in North Wales who identified as White decreased slightly between 2011 (97.5%) and 2021 (96.8%) the proportion of people who identified with the sub category “Any other White background” increased from 1.9% in 2011 to 2.9% or 19,802 people in 2021. This is likely to be a reflection of the increase in the last decade of people in North Wales who were born in the countries that joined the EU between April 2001 and March 2011 (especially Poland and Romania). We reported on this in our 2021 Census topic report on demography and migration.
• In North Wales, the highest proportions of people from “Any other White background” in 2021 were in Wrexham (4.8%) and Flintshire (3.9%).
• For North Wales as a whole, “Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British” remained the second largest high-level ethnic group category in 2021 (9,400 people, 1.4% of all usual residents). This was also the second most common high-level category for all North Wales unitary authority areas except Anglesey, where it was “Mixed or multiple ethnic groups”. North Wales’ 1.4% of the population in this group compares to 2.9% for Wales and 9.3% for England and Wales as a whole.
• Though the number and proportion of people in all high-level ethnic group categories except “White” saw an increase in North Wales between 2011 and 2021, the increases were very small, (all between 0.1% and 0.3%). Some groups saw slight decreases for some unitary authority areas, but the rate of change at this more local level was also very low, ranging from a minimum -0.2% to a maximum +0.4% over the decade.

See also

• 2021 Census: first results
• 2021 Census: demography & migration
• 2021 Census: UK armed forces veterans
• 2021 Census: religion
• 2021 Census: main language
• 2021 Census: education
• 2021 Census: sexual orientation and gender identity

The ONS has also published Ethnic group: Census 2021 in England and Wales which includes some data down to output area.

Contact us

North Wales Regional Innovation Coordination Hub

Email: nwrich@denbighshire.gov.uk

Phone: 01824 712432