Ethnicity Map of UK: North West England
North West England is one of the least diverse areas, with over 92% of people belonging to the White British group. However, Greater Manchester is Britain's third most diverse city after London and Birmingham and has a high concentration of Asian people.
The population of the North West is 6.7 million in a relatively small area. In terms of square kilometres it is the sixth biggest of England's nine regions, so its population density is high, second only to London.
In the North West there are just under a quarter of a million Asian people. Of the English regions, only London and the West Midlands have more. Manchester, a city of 400,000 people, has an Asian population of 9%, or almost one in 10.
The bigger Lancashire towns also have high Asian populations. In Blackburn, one in five residents are of either Indian or Pakistani origin. Oldham and Preston also have Asian populations of around 10%.
Kele Okereke from Bloc Party is from Liverpool
Liverpool, by contrast, only has an Asian population of 1%. Its Irish population is also low, considering a quarter of all Liverpudlians were Irish-born in the second half of the 19th century. This suggests that the descendents of those people who crossed the Irish Sea have lost their Irish identity four generations on and see themselves as belonging to the White British group. But sociologists still believe that a third of Liverpudlians can trace Irish ancestry.
Black and Chinese people make up less than 1% each of the North West's population. As in other parts of the country outside of London, there are more Black Caribbeans than Black Africans.
North West in numbers
Out of every 1,000 people:
- 921 are White British
- 34 are Asian
- 23 are White non-British
- 11 are of mixed race
- 8 are Black
- 8 are Chinese
Focus on... Preston
Preston, in west Lancashire, has a one-in-nine Asian population, with the majority of Indian descent. Manchester's has four times more Pakistanis than Indians. Preston has proportionally more Black people than anywhere else in the North West except Manchester and Liverpool, and also has a higher percentage of Chinese than its Lancashire neighbours Blackburn and Bolton.
Sources: Office for National Statistics, Commission for Racial Equality
