Race and Ethnicity

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to population estimates for people from ethnic minority backgrounds in Hull including local strategic need and service provision. Further information relating to health, wellbeing and lifestyle risk factors is given within our Adult Health and Wellbeing Surveys within Tools and Resources. Where information is available which relates to people from different ethnic minority backgrounds, it is given for specific topic areas within this Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. Information is included within Children with Special Education Needs or Disabilities, on specific diseases and medical conditions including COVID-19 under Health Factors under Adults, within Schools, Education and Qualifications, etc.

Ethnic minorities refers to all ethnic groups combined except the white British group, and thus includes white minorities.

Headlines

• In the 2021 Census, it was estimated that 91.8% of Hull’s residents were white with 83.9% being white British, 0.2% white Irish, 0.2% white Gypsy or Irish Traveller, 0.1% Roma and 7.4% from other white backgrounds. Overall, 1.7% of people had a mixed ethnic backgrounds, 2.8% were Asian or British Asian, 1.9% were black, black British, Caribbean or African, 0.5% Arabs and 1.3% from other ethnic backgrounds.
• Whilst the percentage of people from minority ethnic backgrounds is relatively low in Hull compared to the England average, although the percentages have increased in Hull over the last couple of decades.
• In the 2001 Census, it was estimated that 2.3% of Hull’s population were from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) and 3.6% were from all ethnic minorities (including white minorities), but this increased to 5.9% and 10.3% respectively in the 2011 Census and to 8.2% and 16.1% respectively in the 2021 Census.
• In 2021, it was estimated that 223,962 Hull residents were white British, 21,027 from white minorities mainly Eastern European, and 22,024 from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities). Overall, 43,051 Hull residents were from ethnic minorities.
• Between 2011 and 2021, the largest increases in ethnicity occurred for Arab and other ethnic groups, other white, other black, black African and Bangladeshi.
• The percentage of ethnic minority population in Hull differs dramatically across Hull’s 21 electoral wards, and the ethnic minority population also differs by age group with higher percentage of residents from ethnic minority backgrounds among younger people (21.1% among 0-4 year olds compared to 13.5% among those aged 30+ years).
• The percentage of children from ethnic minorities attending Hull schools has increased from 9.1% in 2010 to 21.5% in 2020 with around 8,805 children attending Hull schools from ethnic minorities.
• From the January 2021 school census, 78.1% of pupils were white British, 9.8% from other white backgrounds, 4.0% from mixed ethnic groups, 1.8% were Asian or Asian British, 2.0% were black British, Caribbean or African, 3.0% were from other ethnic backgrounds, and 1.4% did not have their ethnicity unclassified. A total of 9,246 (21.9%) pupils were from ethnic minorities which was considerably lower than England (35.1%).
• Among state-funded mainstream schools in Hull for 2021/22, 17.8% of primary school, 15.1% of secondary school and 9.3% of special school pupils first language was not English (which was lower than England at 20.9%, 17.2% and 14.6% respectively). The figures were 16.9%, 13.6% and 6.0% for 2020/21 respectively so numbers have increased since the last school year. For the 2021/22 school year, this equates to 4,525 primary, 2,441 secondary and 70 special school pupils whose first language is not English.
• There is significant evidence that those from minority ethnic backgrounds are at higher risk of serious illness should they contract COVD-19. Furthermore, some ethnic groups are disproportionately represented in occupations that are known to increase the likelihood of contracting the virus.
• There is often a lack of information in relation to the health and wellbeing needs of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and some people from ethnic minority backgrounds may experience language barriers and other barriers in relation to accessing services. Work is ongoing to address these issues.

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

Race is generally defined as a combination of physical, behavioural and cultural attributes, whereas ethnicity recognises differences between people on the basis of language and shared culture. Race is often perceived as something that is inherent in our biology, and therefore inherited across generations. Ethnicity is more something we acquire, or self-ascribe, based on factors such as where we live or the culture that we share with others. As a result, people can ascribe themselves to more than one ethnic group based on their ascribed racial identity, culture, ancestry and religion. Furthermore, there is a great deal of variation within different ‘groups’ of individuals regardless of how the groups are defined. Everybody is unique. Generally, the complexity of race and ethnicity are not captured when recording personal characteristics of people whether that is in the Census or among people using different services such as attending health appointments or using local services.

Nevertheless, based on averages, people from different racial and ethnic groups, people can have different health needs as they may have an increased risk of specific diseases due to different genetic risk factors or have different prevalence of lifestyle and behavioural risk factors and may have some problems accessing services due to barriers such as language or due to cultural differences. There may also be increased lack of knowledge around what services are available and how they can be accessed. It is vital that these potential factors are considered so that everybody has good healthcare and access to services.

The Macpherson Report of 1999 highlighted that sometimes services are not meeting the needs of an ethnically diverse population because of both unwitting and institutional racism, which was defined as: “The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racial stereotyping.” This occurs because the majority population, usually white, set the rules and design the services without meaningful and fully listened to input from local diverse and usually minority communities. These representatives have the necessary understanding of their individual communities and the cultural, language and communication barriers, including how and where their communities gather information about services which may not always be the ‘mainstream’ channels. Meaningful involvement and representation from all ethnic minority communities is therefore essential for understanding and meeting the needs of all our communities. This involvement must not be ignored, it must be positively welcomed and incorporated into the design of inclusive services.

In order to assess the different needs of people from different ethnic minority backgrounds, it is essential to understand the health and wellbeing needs as well as understand any wider determinants of health (such as deprivation, housing, education, employment, etc) and differences in lifestyle and behaviour factors which may impact health in relation to the ethnic minorities. However, this is not always easy. Ethnicity is not generally collected in a standard and comprehensive manner across different service areas with different organisations often collecting the data and classifying ethnicity in different ways. This makes it more difficult to examine the health and wellbeing needs of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Furthermore, the numbers of people accessing different services can be small for specific ethnic minority groups, which makes the analysis of data difficult when dealing with small numbers as the data is not robust (see Small Numbers for more information).

The Hull Picture

Estimated Number of People From Different Ethnic Minority Backgrounds

From the 2021 Census, 91.8% of Hull residents were white, with 83.9% being white British. A further 1.7% were from mixed or multiple ethnic groups, 2.8% were Asian or Asian British, 1.9% were black, black British, Caribbean or African, 0.5% were Arabs and 1.3% were from other ethnic groups.

Ethnicity in 2021 Census	Hull (%)	Hull (N)	England (%)
WHITE	91.8	244,989	81.0
White British	83.9	223,962	73.5
White Irish	0.2	455	0.9
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.1	451	0.1
Roma	0.1	286	0.2
Any other white background	7.4	19,835	6.3
MIXED OR MULTIPLE ETHNIC GROUPS	1.7	4,513	3.0
White and black Caribbean	0.4	948	0.4
White and black African	0.4	1,144	0.9
White and Asian	0.4	1,172	0.8
Any other mixed ethnic groups	0.5	1,249	0.8
ASIAN OR BRITISH ASIAN	2.8	7,515	9.6
Indian	0.5	1,259	3.3
Pakistani	0.5	1,292	2.8
Bangladeshi	0.5	1,279	1.1
Chinese	0.5	1,234	0.8
Any other Asian background	0.9	2,451	1.7
BLACK, BLACK BRITISH, CARIBBEAN OR AFRICAN	1.9	5,065	4.2
Black Caribbean	0.1	232	2.6
Black African	1.6	4,292	1.1
Any other black background	0.2	541	0.5
ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP	1.8	4,931	2.2
Arab	0.5	1,443	0.6
Any other ethnic group	1.3	3,488	1.6
TOTAL	100.0	267,013	100.0
Ethnic Minorities (excluding white minorities)	8.2	22,024	19.0
All Ethnic Minorities	16.1	43,051	26.5

The percentage of Hull’s resident population from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased over time. Between 2011 and 2021, the largest increases occurred for Arab and other ethnic groups (120% increase), Other White (82% increase), Other Black (80% increase), Africans (67% increase) and Bangladeshi (63% increase). The only ethnic minority group where the percentage of residents decreased was for Chinese (44% decrease).

However, over the last 20 years, the largest increases have occurred for other white, Arab and other ethnic groups, other black, Black African and other Asians.

Ethnicity in the last three Censuses (%)	2001	2011	2021
WHITE	97.7	94.1	91.8
White British	96.4	89.7	83.9
White Irish	0.3	0.2	0.2
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller/Roma	*	0.1	0.2
Any other white background	1.0	4.1	7.4
MIXED OR MULTIPLE ETHNIC GROUPS	0.7	1.3	1.7
White and black Caribbean	0.1	0.3	0.4
White and black African	0.1	0.3	0.4
White and Asian	0.2	0.4	0.4
Any other mixed ethnic groups	0.2	0.3	0.5
ASIAN OR BRITISH ASIAN	1.1	2.5	2.8
Indian	0.3	0.4	0.5
Pakistani	0.2	0.3	0.5
Bangladeshi	0.2	0.3	0.5
Chinese	0.3	0.8	0.5
Any other Asian background	0.2	0.6	0.9
BLACK, BLACK BRITISH, CARIBBEAN OR AFRICAN	0.4	1.2	1.9
Black Caribbean	0.1	0.1	0.1
Black African	0.3	1.0	1.6
Any other black background	0.0	0.1	0.2
ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP	0.2	0.8	1.8
Arab	*	0.4	0.5
Any other ethnic group	0.2	0.4	1.3
TOTAL	100.0	100.0	100.0
Ethnic Minorities (excluding white minorities)	2.3	5.9	8.2
All Ethnic Minorities	3.6	10.3	16.1

There were also large differences in percentage of people from ethnic minority backgrounds across Hull’s 21 electoral wards. Wards in the centre of Hull and around Hull University were generally the most diverse, with the percentage of residents from ethnic minority backgrounds highest in Central (46.6%), St Andrew’s & Docklands (39.8%), Beverley & Newland (29.4%), Avenue (25.9%), University (25.5%) and Newington & Gipsyville (24.8%).

Ethnicity in 2021 census (%) by ward, area committee area and locality	White British	Other white	Ethnic Minorites (excl white minorities)	All ethnic minorities
Avenue	74.1	11.2	14.7	25.9
Beverley & Newland	70.6	17.1	12.2	29.4
Bricknell	89.8	3.0	7.2	10.2
Central	53.4	21.8	24.8	46.6
Kingswood	90.6	3.4	5.9	9.4
North Carr	93.2	3.4	3.4	6.8
Orchard Park	80.7	11.5	7.8	19.3
University	74.5	8.2	17.3	25.5
West Carr	95.0	2.4	2.6	5.0
NORTH AREA COMMITTEE	80.1	9.5	10.4	19.9
Drypool	82.9	7.9	9.2	17.1
Holderness	94.7	2.7	2.5	5.3
Ings	95.7	1.7	2.6	4.3
Longhill & Bilton Grange	93.6	3.9	2.6	6.4
Marfleet	90.3	6.0	3.7	9.7
Southcoates	88.5	6.6	4.9	11.5
Sutton	95.9	2.2	2.0	4.1
EAST AREA COMMITTEE	91.5	4.6	4.0	8.5
Boothferry	93.0	3.0	4.0	7.0
Derringham	94.6	2.1	3.3	5.4
Newington & Gipsyville	75.2	14.2	10.6	24.8
Pickering	91.5	3.7	4.7	8.5
St Andrew’s & Docklands	60.2	17.8	21.9	39.8
WEST AREA COMMITTEE	80.2	9.6	10.2	19.8
HULL	83.9	7.9	8.2	16.1

The map below shows the percentage of Hull’s resident population who were from ethnic minorities.

The following map shows the percentage of Hull’s population who were from ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities), and shows the percentage are generally less than 5% for the west and north of the city.

As well as differing by geographical areas, the percentages from ethnic minority backgrounds did differ considerably by age with a higher percentage of the resident population from ethnic minority backgrounds among younger people.

Ethnicity by age (%)	0-4	5-15	16-17	18-20	21-24	25-29	30+
WHITE	86.3	87.8	89.7	88.0	88.5	90.8	93.9
White British	78.9	79.6	81.7	80.0	79.6	80.4	86.5
White Irish	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller/Roma	0.3	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.3
Any other white background	7.1	8.0	7.5	7.5	8.4	10.0	6.9
MIXED OR MULTIPLE ETHNIC GROUPS	3.5	3.4	3.2	2.4	2.5	1.3	1.0
White and black Caribbean	0.6	0.6	0.8	0.6	0.5	0.3	0.2
White and black African	1.1	1.1	0.8	0.5	0.7	0.3	0.2
White and Asian	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.6	0.4	0.2
Any other mixed background	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.7	0.4	0.3
ASIAN OR BRITISH ASIAN	4.2	3.2	2.9	3.6	4.0	3.6	2.3
Indian	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.8	0.6	0.4
Pakistani	0.9	0.6	0.6	0.9	0.6	0.6	0.3
Bangladeshi	1.1	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.4
Chinese	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.5	0.9	0.6	0.4
Any other Asian background	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.2	1.3	0.8
BLACK, BLACK BRITISH, CARIBBEAN OR AFRICAN	2.9	2.9	2.3	3.8	2.8	2.1	1.3
Black Caribbean	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1
Black African	2.4	2.3	2.0	3.5	2.4	2.0	1.1
Any other black background	0.5	0.6	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1
ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP	3.1	2.6	1.9	2.2	2.2	2.1	1.5
Arab	0.7	0.9	0.8	1.2	0.7	0.6	0.4
Any other ethnic group	2.5	1.7	1.1	1.0	1.6	1.6	1.1
TOTAL	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Ethnic Minorities (excluding white minorities)	13.7	12.2	10.3	12.0	11.5	9.2	6.1
All Ethnic Minorities	21.1	20.4	18.3	20.0	20.4	19.6	13.5

The numbers by ethnic minority background for the same ages are given below.

Ethnicity by age (numbers)	0-4	5-15	16-17	18-20	21-24	25-29	30+
WHITE	13,766	32,662	5,408	8,925	13,833	18,362	152,033
White British	12,585	29,588	4,925	8,112	12,441	16,249	140,062
White Irish	5	9	4	20	29	32	356
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller/Roma	45	93	28	32	54	61	424
Any other white background	1,131	2,972	451	761	1,309	2,020	11,191
MIXED OR MULTIPLE ETHNIC GROUPS	557	1,273	192	248	393	269	1,579
White and black Caribbean	92	216	48	57	74	67	394
White and black African	179	416	46	51	112	54	286
White and Asian	138	332	52	83	99	72	397
Any other mixed background	148	309	46	57	108	76	502
ASIAN OR BRITISH ASIAN	666	1,185	174	362	620	733	3,773
Indian	126	143	22	50	121	117	680
Pakistani	143	235	36	93	94	128	563
Bangladeshi	180	265	38	63	78	112	674
Chinese	57	172	17	52	143	118	674
Any other Asian background	160	370	61	104	184	258	1,313
BLACK, BLACK BRITISH, CARIBBEAN OR AFRICAN	467	1,093	140	384	437	430	2,113
Black Caribbean	5	29	1	8	23	20	144
Black African	381	850	118	353	376	399	1,815
Any other black background	81	214	21	23	38	11	154
ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP	497	969	113	224	350	426	2,354
Arab	104	323	49	121	105	112	629
Any other ethnic group	393	646	64	103	245	314	1,725
TOTAL	15,953	37,182	6,027	10,143	15,633	20,220	161,852
Ethnic Minorities (excluding white minorities)	2,187	4,520	619	1,218	1,800	1,858	9,819
All Ethnic Minorities	3,368	7,594	1,102	2,031	3,192	3,971	21,790

The percentage of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds attending Hull schools has doubled in the last decade from 9.1% in 2010 (14.9% in 2014 and 17.3% in 2016) to 21.5% in 2020.

In the January 2021 school census, 21.9% were from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The numbers will differ slightly from the 2021 Census as the data collection period is slightly different (January for the school census and March for the 2021 Census) and ethnicity classifications may differ slightly as the person completing the 2021 Census form and the person completing the school registration form may be different or they may have provided slightly different information on the two occasions.

Ethnicity among school pupils	Hull (%)	Hull (N)	England (%)
WHITE	87.9	37,130	72.4
White British	78.1	32,998	64.9
Irish	0.1	28	0.3
Traveller of Irish heritage	0.0	11	0.1
Gypsy/Roma	0.3	133	0.3
Any other white background	9.4	3,960	6.8
MIXED OR MULTIPLE ETHNIC GROUPS	4.0	1,703	6.4
White and black Caribbean	0.2	92	1.6
White and black African	0.7	276	0.9
White and Asian	0.5	223	1.5
Any other mixed background	2.6	1,112	2.4
ASIAN OR BRITISH ASIAN	1.8	727	12.0
Indian	0.3	129	3.3
Pakistani	0.5	195	4.5
Bangladeshi	0.5	210	1.8
Chinese	0.1	40	0.5
Any other Asian background	0.5	224	0.8
BLACK, BLACK BRITISH, CARIBBEAN OR AFRICAN	2.0	856	5.7
Black Caribbean	0.0	17	1.0
Black African	1.5	615	3.9
Any other black background	0.5	224	0.8
ANY OTHER ETHNIC GROUP
Any other ethnic group	3.0	1,248	1.8
Unclassified	1.4	580	1.6
All Ethnic Minorities	21.9	9,246	35.1

Among state-funded mainstream schools in Hull for 2021/22, 17.8% of primary school, 15.1% of secondary school and 9.3% of special school pupils first language was not English (which was lower than England at 21.2%, 17.5% and 14.6% respectively). The figures were 16.9%, 13.6% and 6.0% for 2020/21 respectively so numbers have increased since the last school year. For the 2021/22 school year, this equates to 4,525 primary, 2,441 secondary and 70 special school pupils whose first language is not English.

COVID-19

There is significant evidence that people from ethnic minority backgrounds are at higher risk of serious illness should they contract COVID-19. 

Those with limited or no English language skills are less able to access information in an understandable format and this has been highlighted as an issue within the South East Asian community, particularly for older females. The vast majority of the general population are estimated to speak and understand English according to the Office for National Statistics (98.4%) and younger age groups across all ethnicities are far less likely to experience language barriers. This however will not be the case for newly arrived communities, for instance, asylum seekers and refugees.

Some ethnic groups are more likely to live in higher density housing environments than others.  Some ethnic groups are disproportionately represented in occupations that are known to increase the likelihood of contracting the virus (care, health, public transport, food production etc).

Strategic Need and Service Provision

The relatively large increase in Hull’s ethnic minority population between 2001 and 2011, and anticipated increase between 2011 and 2021, and wide diversity in Hull’s ethnic minority population requires changes to ensure that the health needs of the population are taken in to consideration, and that there are no barriers to access to healthcare and other services. There should also be work to identify the most vulnerable citizens and work with them to address their specific needs so that all services, policies and strategies are the best they can be for all people regardless of who they are.

There is often a lack of data and information relating to the health and wellbeing for specific ethnic minority groups, and collecting good quality consistent information relating to ethnicity is essential so that the circumstances and needs of people from specific ethnic minority groups can be examined in more detail. Despite the lack of data, there are many ways local services are involving ethnic minority groups in the design of services, policies and strategies so that they meet the needs of specific ethnic minority groups.

With the higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and the increased risk of serious illness, the impact of COVID-19 needs to be considered in relation to specific ethnic minority communities to understand how changes can be made to services to improve health and wellbeing within the ethnic minority communities.

Resources

Census 2021. https://census.gov.uk/

Census 2011. https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011census

Census 2011. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011

School League Tables: https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 7 November 2023.

This page is due to be updated / checked in November 2024.