Demographics of Leicester explained

Place:	Leicester
Caption:	Population pyramid of Leicester
Size Of Population:	368,571 (2021)

Leicester, England is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. It is the thirteenth most populous city in the United Kingdom.

Population

Leicester's total population, according to the 2011 UK census, was 329,839. The population density was 4,494 people per square km.

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Leicester. The local district has been in a majority-minority state since around 2008^[1] and was reported in the 2011 census to be that, with the White British population at 45% of the population of Leicester.^[2] ^[3] Asian British residents, especially Indians, have risen since post-war migration to the UK began, famously Asians from Uganda who were expelled in 1972. In 1991, Asians as a broad multi-ethnic group made up nearly a quarter of the city's population but have risen to above a third of the population at 37.1%. Black British people have also risen as a group with the increase mostly coming from Black Africans who have risen from 0.3% of the city's population to nearly 4%.

Ethnic group	1961 estimations^[4]		1971 estimations		1981 estimations^[5]		1991 census^[6] ^[7]		2001 census^[8]		2011 census^[9]		2021 census^[10]
Ethnic group	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

White Total	267,470	97.8%	255,928	90%	207,109	78.6%	202,332	71.1%	178,739	63.85%	166,636	50.52%	150,657	40.88%
White: British	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	169,456	60.54%	148,629	45.06%	122,395	33.21%
White: Irish	–	–	–	–	–	–	4,134	1.52%	3,602	1.29%	2,524	0.77%	1,789	0.49%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller^[11]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	417	0.13%	457	0.12%
White: Roma^[12]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	839	0.23%
White: Other	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	5,681	2.03%	15,066	4.57%	25,177	6.83%
Asian or Asian British Total	3,742^[13]	1.4%	–	–	48,923	18.6%	72,069	25.3%	85,177	30.43%	122,470	37.13%	159,977	43.40%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	–	–	–	–	44,132	16.7%	64,669	22.7%	72,033	25.73%	93,335	28.30%	126,421	34.30%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	–	–	–	–	1,827	0.7%	2,827	1%	4,276	1.53%	8,067	2.45%	12,673	3.44%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	–	–	–	–	591		1,131		1,926	0.69%	3,642	1.10%	7,055	1.91%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese^[14]	–	–	–	–	495		716		1,426	0.51%	4,245	1.29%	2,481	0.67%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	–	–	–	–	1,878	0.7%	2,726	0.9%	5,516	1.97%	13,181	4.00%	11,347	3.08%
Black or Black British Total	–	–	–	–	5,300	2%	7,065	2.5%	8,595	3.07%	20,585	6.24%	28,766	7.80%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	–	–	–	–	3,382	1.3%	4,394	1.5%	4,610	1.65%	4,790	1.45%	5,025	1.36%
Black or Black British: African	–	–	–	–	568		782		3,432	1.23%	12,480	3.78%	21,536	5.84%
Black or Black British: Other Black	–	–	–	–	1,350		1,889		553	0.20%	3,315	1.01%	2,764	0.75%
Mixed Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	6,506	2.32%	11,580	3.51%	13,899	3.77%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,841	1.01%	4,691	1.42%	5,025	1.36%
Mixed: White and Black African	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	539	0.19%	1,161	0.35%	1,776	0.48%
Mixed: White and Asian	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,908	0.68%	3,388	1.03%	3,659	0.99%
Mixed: Other Mixed	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,218	0.44%	2,340	0.71%	3,439	0.75%
Other: Total	–	–	–	–	2,266	0.9%	3,234	1.1%	904	0.32%	8,568	2.60%	15,272	4.14%
Other: Arab^[15]	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	3,311	1.00%	3,402	0.92%
Other: Any other ethnic group	–	–	–	–	–	–			904	0.32%	5,257	1.59%	11,870	3.22%
Ethnic minority: Total	6,000	2.2%	28,280	10%	56,489	21.4%	82,368	28.9%	101,182	36.15%	163,203	49.48%	217,914	59.12%

Total	273,470	100%	284,208	100%	263,598	100%	284,700	100%	279,921	100%	329,839	100%	368,571	100%

Notes for table above

News: 11 September 2007 . Herbert . Ian . Leicester to be first city where white people are minority . 12 November 2022 . The Independent . en.
Web site: A City of Diversity - Story of Leicester . 12 November 2022 . storyofleicester.info.
News: 12 November 2022 . Census 2011: Leicester 'most ethnically diverse' in region . en-GB . BBC News . 12 November 2022.
McCarthy . Liam . 2021-06-07 . The National Front and the BNP in Leicester and Leicestershire . en . 10.25392/leicester.data.14685870.v2.
Book: Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 - Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration . 1996 . London : HMSO . Internet Archive . 978-0-11-691655-6.
Book: Ethnicity in the 1991 census: Vol 3 - Social geography and ethnicity in Britain, geographical spread, spatial concentration and internal migration . 1996 . London : HMSO . Internet Archive . 978-0-11-691655-6.
Data is taken from United Kingdom Casweb Data services of the United Kingdom 1991 Census on Ethnic Data for England, Scotland and Wales (Table 6)
Web site: Office of National Statistics; 2001 Census Key Statistics . 2021-09-07 . webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Web site: 2011 Census: Ethnic Group, local authorities in England and Wales . 2021-12-15 . webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Web site: Ethnic group - Office for National Statistics . 2022-12-03 . www.ons.gov.uk.
New category created for the 2011 census
New category created for the 2021 census
Byrne . D . 1998 . Class and Ethnicity in Complex Cities—The Cases of Leicester and Bradford . Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space . en . 30 . 4 . 703–720 . 10.1068/a300703 . 0308-518X.
In 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.
New category created for the 2011 census

Ethnicity of school pupils

The ethnicity of school pupils within Leicester has been in flux and in a majority-minority state since statistics have been first collected in 2003. For instance, the most profound change can be seen with the White British, who have declined from 45.6% in 2004 to 23.4% in 2022. Asian British school pupils have risen in percentage, going from 37.9% of the areas school pupil population to a near majority (47%). All other groups have grown in size as well. Other White school pupils have risen from 1.7% to 7.8%, Black British school pupils have risen from 6.4% to 10.4% in 2016 but then declined to 9.5% in 2022, Mixed have risen from 5.5% to 7.5% and Other ethnicities have gone from 0.8% to 2.7%.

Ethnic group	School year^[16] ^[17]
	1971^[18]		2004		2008		2012		2015/16		2021/2022
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

White Total	–	86.5%	19,480	48.1%	16,720	42.4%	15,515	39%	16,583	36.6%	18,905	31.8%
White: British	–	–	18,490	45.6%	15,090	38.3%	13,258	33.3%	13,215	29.1%	13,890	23.4%
White: Irish	–	–	190		133		86		73		65
White: Traveller of Irish heritage	–	–	70		35		50		61		47
White: Gypsy/Roma	–	–	30		30		139		235		266
White: Other	–	–	700	1.7%	1,432		1,978		2,999		4,637	7.8%
Asian / Asian British Total	–	–	15,360	37.9%	15,924	40.4%	16,512	41.5%	19,682	43.4%	27,906	47%
Asian / Asian British: Indian	–	–	12,150	30%	12,267	31.1%	12,049	30.3%	14,179	31.3%	19,855	33.4%
Asian / Asian British: Pakistani	–	–	1,020		1,227		1,382		1,724		2,557
Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi	–	–	560		638		826		994		1,617
Asian / Asian British: Chinese	–	–	80		79		80		113		169
Asian / Asian British: Other Asians	–	–	1,550	3.8%	1,713		2,175		2,672		3,708	6.2%
Black / Black British Total	–	–	2,610	6.4%	3,450	8.7%	4,050	10.2%	4,726	10.4%	5,680	9.5%
Black: Caribbean	–	–	590		534		505		500		454
Black: African	–	–	1,860	4.6%	2,576		3,130		3,589		4,390	7.4%
Black: Other Blacks	–	–	160		337		415		637		836
Mixed / British Mixed	–	–	2,230	5.5%	2,440	6.2%	2,730	6.9%	3,082	6.8%	4,457	7.5%
Other: Total	–	–	310	0.8%	534	1.4%	650	1.6%	910	2%	1,618	2.7%
Unclassified	–	–	570	1.4%	152	0.4%	312	0.8%	384	0.8%	833	1.4%
Non-White: Total	–	13.5%		51.9%		57.6%		61%		63.4%		68.2%

Total:	–	100%	40,540	100%	39,430	100%	39,765	100%	45,367	100%	59,399	100%

Ethnicity of births

Ethnic Group	1981 estimates^[19]		2021^[20]
Ethnic Group	Number	%	Number	%

White Total	–	66%	1,362	32.6%
White: British	–	–	897	21.5%
White: Other	–	–	465	11.1%
Asian / Asian British Total	–	–	1,858	44.6%
Asian / Asian British: Indian	–	–	1,384	33.2%
Asian / Asian British: Pakistani	–	–	176	4.2%
Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi	–	–	111	2.7%
Asian / Asian British: Other Asians	–	–	187	4.5%
Black / Black British Total	–	–	324	7.7%
Black: Caribbean	–	–	27	0.6%
Black: African	–	–	258	6.2%
Black: Other Blacks	–	–	39	0.9%
Mixed / British Mixed	–	–	331	7.9%
Other: Total	–	–	130	3.1%
Not Stated	–	–	167	4.0%

Non-White: Total (not including Not stated)	–	33%	2,643	63.3%

Total:	–	100%	4,172	100%

Country of birth

Country of Birth	Year
	1971^[21]		1981^[22]		1991^[23]		2001^[24]		2011^[25]		2021^[26]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%

United Kingdom	242,255	87.4%	223,681	81%	217,656	80.4%	215,455	77%	218,996	66.4%	217,078	58.9%
	234,551	84.6%	216,729	78.5%	212,010	78.4%			214,403	65%	213,555	57.9%
	4,006		3,708		2,854				2,330		1821	0.49%
	2,243		1,947		1,726				1,380		1078	0.29%
	1,455		–		1,019				781		590	0.16%
United Kingdom (not otherwise specified)			1,297		47		84		102		467	0.13%
Europe (non-UK)	9,015	3.3%	7,472	2.7%	6,180	2.3%	7,563	2.7%	19,689	6%	31,880	8.6%
Ireland	4,807		3,890		3,099		2,486		1,933		1,240	0.34%
Other EEC/EU			1,532	0.6%	1,750	0.6%	3,021	1.1%	15,927	4.8%
Other Europe	4,208		2,050		1,331		2,056		1,829		31,880	8.6%
Asia and Middle East	12,567	4.5%	20,112	7.3%	23,623	8.7%	30,501	10.9%	55,108	16.7%	79,372	21.5%
	11,365	4.1%	18,238	6.6%	20,837	7.7%	24,677				59,842	16.2%
	758		912		1,162		1,854				4,989	1.4%
			397		686		1,051				3,233	0.9%
Far East	444		565		657		1,751
Middle East			–		281		771
Other							4
Africa	7,088	2.6%	19,082	6.9%	18,327	6.8%	22,056	7.9%	31,983	9.7%	33,542	9.1%
North America and Caribbean	2,870	1%	2,550	0.9%			2,909	1%	3,545		2,825
South America							169
Oceania			–				539		516		447
Other: New Commonwealth^[27]	444		493
Other: Old Commonwealth^[28]	402		628		455
Other:	2548		2,226				645		2
Total	277,189	100%	276,244	100%	270,525	100%	279,921	100%	329,839	100%	368,570	100%

Languages

The most common main languages spoken in Leicester according to the 2011 census are shown below.^[29] There were around over 70 languages or dialects spoken in the city in 2011.

Rank	Language	Usual residents aged 3+	Proportion
1		228,295	72.47%
2		36,347	11.54%
3		7,560	2.40%
4		6,192	1.97%
5		3,376	1.07%
6		3,331	1.06%
7		2,516	0.80%
8		1,808	0.57%
9		1,750	0.56%
10		1,520	0.48%
11		1,498	0.48%
12		1,095	0.35%
13		1,021	0.32%
14		878	0.28%
15		849	0.27%
16		801	0.25%
17		584	0.19%
18		546	0.17%
19		533	0.17%
20		496	0.16%
	Other	14,015	4.45%

Religion

The following table shows the religion of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Leicester. In 2012, almost 240 individual faith groups were reported to being practised in Leicester.

Religion	1980s estimations		2001^[30]		2011^[31]		2021
Religion	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Christian	–	–	125,187	44.72%	106,872	32.40%	91,161	24.73%
Buddhist	–	–	638	0.23%	1,224	0.37%	1,181	0.32%
Hindu	–	–	41,248	14.74%	50,087	15.19%	65,821	17.86%
Jewish	–	–	417	0.15%	295	0.09%	326	0.09%
Muslim	7,000^[32]	–	30,885	11.03%	61,440	18.63%	86,443	23.45%
Sikh	–	–	11,796	4.21%	14,457	4.38%	16,451	4.46%
Other religion	–	–	1,179	0.42%	1,839	0.56%	2,075	0.56%
No religion	–	–	48,789	17.43%	75,280	22.82%	84,607	22.96%
Religion not stated	–	–	19,782	7.07%	18,345	5.56%	20,509	5.56%
Total	–	100%	279,921	100.00%	329,839	100.00%	368,574	100.00%