Ethnicity Map of UK: Scotland
Only 2% of Scotland's population of 5 million are non-White. Scotland has seen a massive increase in foreign-born residents – especially from Eastern Europe – since the EU expanded in 2004. The Scottish Parliament encouraged this, because the country's own workforce had been shrinking.
Scotland is a big country with a relatively small population. There are only 64 people per square kilometre – nearly six times less than in England.
Hardeep Singh Kohli is from Glasgow
Glasgow is Scotland's biggest city, and is also the most diverse. It has the biggest non-White population in the country, and almost a quarter of all the Indians in Scotland live in Glasgow. There are also a large number of White Irish in Glasgow – it is the closest British port city to Ireland.
The Commission for Racial Equality, which has analysed the results of the most recent census in 2001, uses different ethnic group classifications for Scotland, compared with the rest of Britain. It counts White Scottish people and other White British people separately. This is important because the White British group is the largest ethnic minority group in Scotland, with 7.4% of the population.
Scotland in numbers
Out of every 1,000 people:
- 880 are White British
- 74 are Asian
- 25 are White non-British
- 3 are of mixed race
- 3 are Chinese
- 2 are Black
Focus on... Edinburgh
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, actually has fewer Scottish people living there than in the rest of Scotland. Only 79% of people counted themselves in the 2001 census as White Scottish, compared with 88% in the rest of Scotland. But far fewer Asians live in Edinburgh than in Glasgow – Edinburgh's next biggest group is White British. Edinburgh has a big English student population, many of whom stay living there after graduating.
Sources: Office for National Statistics, Commission for Racial Equality
