Population rise fastest in ethnic minorities

Ethnic minority groups accounted for nearly three quarters of Britain's population growth between 1991 and 2001.

Black and Asian groups grew by 1.6 million, compared with an increase of 600,000 in the white population, a London School of Economics analysis of census data reveals today.

The fastest-growing category was Black African, which more than doubled from 212,000 to 485,000. Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Chinese groups also saw rapid growth.

The total UK population rose four per cent and 73 per cent of this growth was among ethnic minority groups, the study says.

The increase in the number of people from different ethnic backgrounds and countries is "one of the most significant changes in Britain during the 1990s", the report says.

Ethnic populations grew in virtually every local council area, including those with very few black and Asian residents at the start of the Nineties.

The report, by Professor Anne Power and Dr Ruth Lupton of the LSE's Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion, also confirms Britain's growing North-South divide, with all the larger cities and conurbations except London suffering decline.