Ethnicity Map of UK: North East England
The North East is the least diverse of England's nine regions. 96.4% of people described themselves in the 2001 census as White British. Newcastle is its most diverse city, but here the proportions of ethnic minorities are only just over the national average – unusual for an urban area with a high population density.
The North East's overall population of 2.5 million is the lowest of England's nine regions, but it is also the second smallest in terms of square kilometres.
Cheryl Tweedy is from Newcastle
The Asian group is the highest of the ethnic minorities, with just over 1%. In Newcastle Asians make up 4.4% of the city's population of 260,000, with Pakistanis the biggest of the different Asian groups. Almost a third of all of Newcastle's Bangladeshis live in the Elswick area, where one in four people is from and ethnic minority group.
The North East's Black population – less than 4,000 people – is particularly small, less than 0.2% of the population, but here, like in London and nowhere else in the UK, there are more Black African people than Black Caribbean.
North East in numbers
Out of every 1,000 people:
- 964 are White British
- 13 are Asian
- 12 are White non-British
- 5 are of mixed race
- 2 are Black
- 2 are Chinese
Focus on... Durham
Durham is a relatively large city with a population of 87,000, but has very low numbers of ethnic minority groups. The 2001 census counted just 649 Asians, with Indians being the biggest sub group. Following the general trend in the North East, there are more Black Africans than Black Caribbeans, but the black group numbered less than 200 people in the 2001 census.
Sources: Office for National Statistics, Commission for Racial Equality
