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New Report Examines How Best to Shape 2001 Census to Meet the Needs of UK Ethnic Minorities

Originally Published 24 June 1996

A new research report examining how the next UK census can be shaped to best meet the needs of ethnic minorities is to be launched, on Tuesday 25th June, by the University of Warwick's Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations.

The report entitled Towards 2001: Ethnic Minorities and the Census. by Dr David Owen a researcher at the University of Warwick's Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, will be launched at a special conference at the University entitled Race Into the Future: Ethnicity and the Census in the Next Millennium..

The report calls for the 2001 census to consider broadening the terms it allows ethnic minorities to describe themselves on a census. In particular the report notes the strong desire, on the part of many black people who were born in the UK, to be able to use the description Black British. It also suggests that efforts should be made to allow more detailed classification of people of mixed parentage, and also calls for clearer identification of Irish people within the Census (though it recognises that many Northern Irish people resident in Great Britain do, and should continue, to describe themselves as British).

The report also calls for recognition of "new" ethnic groups resident in Great Britain. The report notes that several forces have operated over the last 10 years to bring new nationalities to the UK (i.e. the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, the rise in inward investment in the UK from South East Asian countries, and the rise in the recruitment to the UK of overseas students.

The report also summarises the findings on ethnic minorities from the 1991 census. Ethnic minorities accounted for over 3 million of the 54.9 people counted in the last census - about 5.5 per cent of the total population. While ethnic minorities continue to be disadvantaged, the Census showed that there was much diversity in the experience of individual ethnic groups.

Note for Editors: Copies of the full report are available from the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at the University of Warwick price 15 pounds sterling.

Patrick Roach
Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL
Tel: 01203 524956

Dr David Owen
Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations
University of Warwick
Coventry
CV4 7AL
Tel: 01203 524259



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