Ethnicity Map of UK: East England
The East of England is less ethnically diverse than average in Britain, but over a quarter of the region's 120,000-strong Asian population lives in Luton, a relatively small town. This gives a contrasting picture: Luton's ethnic minority groups make up 35% of its population, but at the other end of the region in Norfolk this number is just 3.8%
The White non-British group makes up the biggest ethnic minority in the East of England. Cambridge University takes in large amounts of overseas students, and at the time of the 2001 census the region's military bases were home to 65,000 American and German servicemen and their families.
Former Mis-Teeq singer Alesha Dixon is from Hertfordshire
Because the East of England is mainly rural, many Eastern European casual workers have found jobs on the farms there, so the White non-British population is likely to have increased even more since the European Union opened up to 10 more countries in 2004.
The majority, at 91%, of White British in the region is higher than the national average, and the 2.3% Asian group is well below the average for Britain.
East in numbers
Out of every 1,000 people:
- 914 are White British
- 37 are White non-British
- 23 are Asian
- 11 people are mixed race
- 9 people are Black
- 4 people are Chinese
Focus on... Bedford
Bedford has a higher concentration of White non-British residents (4.8%) than the rest of the East region. Many of these are Italian, descendents of the 7,500 men from southern Italy who came to work in a brickworks after the second world war, when repairing England's bomb damage demanded extra pairs of hands.
Sources: Office for National Statistics, Commission for Racial Equality
