• 2020.10.06
  • ETHNIC LONDON
Although the United Kingdom has an overall ethnic composition made of 76% of the western white population, the white British in London have fallen from 58 to 45 per cent of the London population in the last ten years.
British indigenous people are believed to be descendants of the various ethnic groups that settled in Britain before the 11th century, including the Romans, Norwegians, Anglo-Saxons and Celts.
They remain the largest ethnic group, but all the others put together, the kaleidoscope of races, dialects, religions that make up the most multiethnic metropolis on earth, are the new majority: Asians, Africans, Eastern Europeans, Caribbean, South Americans and even Caucasians from other countries have arrived from the other side of the Channel: French, Italians, Germans.
This blend of passports, languages and cultures is 55 percent of the city, and it keeps on growing.

The wasps, as white Anglo-Saxon protestants were once called, pale residents who felt themselves to be masters, are destined to be swamped by the formidable wave of immigration and also because of the higher birth rate among foreigners. For a long time, in reality, London has been a multicultural fruit salad.
The British Empire, the largest empire in history, has long attracted the peoples of the colonies to the metropolis at its center of gravity, and the peoples of the Commonwealth after decolonization.
London is among the most cosmopolitan cities on the planet: a recent census stated the city has an ethnic composition made by substantial minorities: 10% from India, Bangladesh or Pakistan, 5% of black Africans, 5% of Caribbean blacks, 1% of Chinese and 3% of other various ethnic minorities.
Almost 22% of London residents were born outside the borders of the European Union. If we consider the areas of residence from which millions of workers move to the city every day, the so-called metropolitan area of London expands to contain centers such as Oxford and Brighton too.
But let's look at where different immigrant communities are located per London borough. For the uninitiated, the borough practically has the function of a municipality, that is, it manages the garbage, streets, schools, parks, cemeteries and much more. London is divided into thirty-two boroughs excluding the City of London which is a world unto itself in every sense. When we speak about ethnicity and immigrants, we only speak of first-generation immigrants, those born in their country and who came to live in the United Kingdom during their lifetime. So certain ethnic immigrant communities suffered the war such as Jamaicans, Pakistanis and Indians are now less numerous in this case, as many of them have now been here for several generations. While Poles and Nigerians who have come more recently seem to be more represented.
Italians are found almost everywhere but we also know that only a minority of Italian immigrants recently compiled the census, generally out of distrust or lack of knowledge of the English language. However, they are among the dominant communities in Kensington & Chelsea.
The Americans are the largest nationality in the City of London, followed by the French and Australians.
In Bexley you will find many Nigerians, Indians and Irish while in Enfield we have Turks, Greeks and Poles mainly.
In Kingston you will find many people from India, Sri Lanka and Korea and Harringay has Polish, Turkish and Jamaican communities.
At Kensington and Chelsea we have Americans, French and Italians while Greenwich instead sees many Nigerians, Nepalese and Indians who have opened many ethnic restaurants here.
You will be surprised to know that Camden's largest immigrant community is Americans, followed by immigrants from Bangladesh and Ireland while in the distant borough of Barking & Dagenham we find Nigerians, Indians and Pakistanis.

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  • GianFranco Belloli
  • Jobblogger/musician

I moved to London over 2 years ago but only last year I started writing for a local newsletter for Expats in London telling about my experience in this big city and giving advice to newcomers. London is a very dynamic city and has a lot for everyone but it’s important to have a local point of view to navigate it without getting lost. Let me be your guide to hidden London!

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