Scottish Asians Explained
Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland.[2] Their parents or grandparents are normally Asian immigrants. It can also refer to people who are of dual Scottish and Asian ancestry. It combines Asian ethnic background with Scottish national identity.
In traditional British usage, the term Asian did not normally include East Asians, who were referred by their respective national origins (e.g. Chinese, Japanese and others) or collectively as "Oriental", which similar to Scotch can be viewed of as pejorative when applied to people.[3] By contrast, in traditional North American usage the term Asian did not normally include South Asians but focused on East and Southeast Asians, particularly Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. These frames of reference reflect different migration patterns.
Demographics
The 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2022 censuses recorded the following ethnic groups:
| Ethnic Group | 1991[4] | 2001[5] | 2011[6] | 2022[7] |
|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
|---|
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian | 10,050 | 0.20% | 15,037 | 0.30% | 32,706 | 0.62% | 52,951 | 0.97% |
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani | 21,192 | 0.42% | 31,793 | 0.63% | 49,381 | 0.93% | 72,871 | 1.34% |
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi | 1,134 | 0.02% | 1,981 | 0.04% | 3,788 | 0.07% | 6,934 | 0.13% |
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese | 10,476 | 0.21% | 16,310 | 0.32% | 33,706 | 0.64% | 47,075 | 0.87% |
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other | 4,604 | 0.09% | 6,196 | 0.12% | 21,097 | 0.40% | 32,187 | 0.59% |
| Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total | 47,456 | 0.95% | 71,317 | 1.41% | 140,678 | 2.66% | 212,022 | 3.90% |
| | | | |
| Total Population in Scotland | 4,998,567 | 100% | 5,062,011 | 100% | 5,295,403 | 100% | 5,439,842 | 100% | |
2011 census
In addition to ethnicity, the 2011 census asked about national identity.[8]
- 34 per cent of all minority ethnic groups felt they had some Scottish identity either on its own or in combination with another identity. This ranged from 60 per cent for people from a mixed background and 50 per cent for those from a Pakistani ethnic group, to 21 per cent for those from an African ethnic group. This compared to 83 per cent for all people in Scotland.[8]
- 62 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish identity only’ as their national identity, of which 98 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[8]
- 18 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish and British identity only’ as their national identity, of which 97 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[8]
- 8 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘British identity only’. Of these, 49 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’, 38 per cent were ‘White: Other British’, and 8 per cent were ‘Asian’.[8]
- 4 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘Other identity only’ (i.e. no UK identity), 32 per cent of those were ‘White: Other White’, 22 per cent were ‘Asian’ and 21 per cent were ‘White: Polish’.[8]
South Asian communities
Scotland's South Asian population of more than 80,000 is mostly from Indian and Pakistani background. The majority are adherents of the Hindu, Sikh and Islamic faiths and are concentrated around urban areas, such as Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. However, there are Asian communities in places as small as Stornoway and as far north as Aberdeen.[9]
Notable Scottish Asians
Arts and entertainment
- Ali Abbasi, media presenter and writer
- Shehzad Afzal, writer director producer and game designer
- Danny Bhoy, comedian
- Shabana Bakhsh, actress
- Serena Dalrymple
- Hassan Ghani, journalist and broadcaster
- Mahtab Hussain, photographer
- Sara Ishaq, film maker
- Sanjeev Kohli, actor, TV presenter and property owner
- Hardeep Singh Kohli, media presenter
- Katie Leung, actress
- MC-VA, rapper
- Aasmah Mir, television and radio presenter
- Shereen Nanjiani, television and radio presenter
- Suhayl Saadi, writer
- Kiran Sonia Sawar, actress
- Marli Siu, actress
- KT Tunstall, musician
- Atta Yaqub, actor and model
Business
Politics
Sport
- Aqeel Ahmed, boxer
- Tanveer Ahmed, boxer
- Jamie Bhatti, rugby union player
- Asim Butt, cricketer
- David Changleng, rugby union player and referee
- Malcolm Changleng, rugby union player and referee
- Ukashir Farooq, boxer
- Majid Haq, cricketer
- Omer Hussain, cricketer
- Moneeb Iqbal, cricketer
- Jazz Juttla, former footballer
- Vishal Marwaha, hockey player
- Rashid Sarwar, former footballer
- Safyaan Sharif, cricketer
- Qasim Sheikh, cricketer
Other
- Mohammed Atif Siddique, convicted of terrorism offences
- Mamta Singhal, winner of the Women Engineering Society Prize - Young Women Engineer of the Year 2007; finalist for Global MBA student of the Year 2008
Popular culture
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion - Chart data . . 21 May 2024 . Scotland's Census . . 21 May 2024 . Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Ethnic Group'
- Web site: Scotland's New Official Ethnicity Classification. 2018-04-23. 2015-04-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402172616/http://www.gov.scot/Resource/Doc/233640/0063967.pdf. live.
- Web site: 'Oriental': Rugs, Not People. NPR.org. 2018-04-23. 2018-04-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20180424135557/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112465167. live.
- Web site: 1991 census - local base statistics . Nomis: Official Census and Labour Market Statistics . 14 June 2023. Tables L01 to L18: Demographic and economic characteristics > L06 Ethnic group
- Web site: Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report - gov.scot. www.gov.scot. 2021-05-14. 2021-05-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20210514105243/https://www.gov.scot/publications/analysis-ethnicity-2001-census-summary-report/pages/2/. live.
- Web site: Scotland's Census. www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk. 2021-05-14. 2021-05-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20210514142653/https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/search-the-census#/. live.
- Web site: Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion - Chart data . . 21 May 2024 . Scotland's Census . . 21 May 2024 . Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Ethnic Group'
- Web site: Census 2011: Detailed characteristics on Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion in Scotland – Release 3A. 2018-04-24. 2018-06-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20180630062854/http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/news/census-2011-detailed-characteristics-ethnicity-identity-language-and-religion-scotland-%E2%80%93. live. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 . © Crown copyright.
- Web site: Stornoway's not racist, say Asians. 8 October 2006. The Times. subscription. 29 March 2023. 29 March 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230329163110/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stornoways-not-racist-say-asians-c6dp0hpmp20. live.
- News: First Asian MSP goes to Holyrood. 4 May 2007. news.bbc.co.uk. 14 April 2019. 14 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190414100353/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6622915.stm. live.
