London’s white population did not go from 86% to 36% in ten years

A post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram says: “Just found out London went from like 86% white to 36% in ten years”.

This is false. 

According to Census data for England and Wales in 2021 36.8% of people in London identified as “White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”.

However, a further 17% of people in London identified as “White: Other”, meaning that a total of 53.8% identified as white.

By comparison, Census data shows that in 2011 a total of 59.8% of people in London identified as white, with 44.9% identifying as “White British”.

This means that while it is true that the percentage of people in London who identify as white fell between 2011 and 2021, it did not decrease to the extent that these posts claim.

We’ve fact checked a number of claims about ethnic diversity in UK cities, including Nigel Farage’s claim that London and Manchester are now “minority white” cities, and claims on social media that London is “55% non-white.”

It’s important to note that the way questions about ethnicity have been asked in the Census has changed over the decades.

In a blog published in 2019, the Cabinet Office said: “The way that ethnic groups are defined has changed over time. Similarly, the way someone describes themselves may change as their perceptions, or society’s, change. And, society’s needs for information about ethnicity have changed over time.

“This makes collecting ethnicity data, and measuring changes over time, challenging.”

The Census included a specific question on ethnicity for the first time in 1991, when 79.8% of people in London identified as white. In 2001, 71.2% of people in London identified as white.

Image courtesy of Marek Rucinski