London is not ‘55% non-white’

An image being shared on social media claims that London is “55% non-white”.

This is not true. At the last Census, in 2021, although London was the most ethnically diverse region, 53.8% identified as white. So the “non-white” total was closer to 46.2%. 

This 53.8% majority is made up of 36.8% who said they were “White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”, and 17% who made up the “White other” category.

Of that “White other” category, 14.7% said they were “White: Other White”, 1.8% said they were “White: Irish”, 0.4% said they were “White: Roma” and 0.1% said they were “White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller”.

The next largest single category was Asian, at 20.7% of the population.

The same image was also shared on Twitter five years ago, but it was even more wrong then. Census data from 2011 showed that 59.8% of London identified as white. 

We have fact checked similar false claims about ethnic diversity in UK cities before, including when Nigel Farage wrongly claimed that London, Manchester and Birmingham were “now all minority white cities”.

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, is Muslim as the post claims.

Image courtesy of Lachlan Gowen