UK Asians – A Huge Market In the 2001 census, 2.5 million adults, 4.4% of the population, classified themselves as UK Asian: Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Chinese. There is a significant increase expected in the 2011 Census.

Key Facts

• There are 2.5 million Asians in the UK.
• Britain’s South Asian population grew by 41%, compared with just 7% growth in the UK population as a whole, between 1991 and 2001.
• 50% of the non white population in the UK are South Asian.
• Indians are the largest single ethnic minority group in Britain – making up almost one quarter of the total ethnic minority population.

 

Population of the United Kindom: by ethnic group, April 2001 Census

	Total population		Non-white population
	Numbers	Percentages	Percentages
All population	58,789,194	100
All ethnic population	4,635,296	7.9	100
Indian	1,053,411	1.8	22.7
Pakistani	747,285	1.3	16.1
Bangladeshi	283,063	0.5	6.1
Other Asian	247,664	0.4	5.3
All South Asian	2,331,423	4.0	50.3
Chinese	247,403	0.4	5.3
All UK Asian	2,578,826	4.4	55.6
Source: ONS 2011

 

• 45% of South Asians are classified as ABC1
• 53% of young ethnic people are in further and higher education compared with 44% of the overall population
• London, Birmingham, Bradford, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow all have high concentrations of South Asian inhabitants.
• UK South Asians are significantly more likely (74%) than the average UK resident (57%) to have internet access at home.
• 88% of South Asians watch Asian TV
• South Asians have larger than average households, therefore larger than average shopping baskets!

 

 

SOUTH EAST ETHNIC POPULATION UP BY 62%

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics in May have shown that between 2001 and 2009 the population of England and Wales increased by 2.45 million to 54.8 million.

There has been a  2.5 million increase in the UK population over the last decade and it’s been driven entirely by a mixture of non-white British people migrating into the country and higher birth rates among ethnic minority groups.England and Wales has experienced a 2.45 million increase in population between 2001 and 2009, with two-thirds of that being due to net migration.

However, the numbers of white British people actually fell by 36,000 during that period, whilst the group of people the ONS classify as non-white British, increased from 6.64 million to 9.13 million. This group includes Chinese, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, mixed white and European.

The largest group of all is South Asians which now represents 6% of people in England and Wales.

ZMTV’s ethnic Targeted Television sales house represents the largest number of TV channels servicing this group.There are now3.8 million Asians living in England and Wales (including Chinese). It’s an attractive audience group for advertisers to target, with ZMTV’s channels reaching 80% ofUK Asian viewing.

The total proportion of the population in England and Wales that is now from an ethnic minority group has increased from 13 per cent in 2001 to 17 per cent in 2009. That’s a 39% increase.

The fastest growing ethnic minority group was Chinese, which jumped from 233,000 to 451,000 over the period. It’s nearly doubled and ZMTV exclusively sells UK advertising for the Mandarin and Cantonese speaking channels. ZMTV also sells the advertising for an increasing number of channels transmitting in China.

London, whose population was already made up of 40.4% ethnic minorities in 2001, hardly changed its composition during the last decade,being 40.5% eight years later. In contrast, nearly all areas outside of London saw a dramatic change in ethnic mix.

The south east, for instance, went from being 8.8 per cent ethnic minorities to 14.3 per cent during the period. This increase of 62% suggesting that ethnic viewers now have tendency to set up home in the towns and cities beyond Greater London, creating additional challenges when it comes to planning effective ‘above the line’ campaigns to reach that group. All of ZMTV’s channels reach every part of the UK and are available on satellite/cable.

 Data source: Office of National Statistics May 2011/UK Asian TV Audience Survey (BDRC Continental Research)

By Bill Miller, Head of Client Sales, ZMTV 23^rd May 2011

Average household size:

48% of South Asians do not read any newspaper regularly – 61% do not read any retail trade magazine, 57% do not listen to commercial radio.

 

The Asian shopkeeper is dominant within the UK independent retail sector, owning:

• More than 70% of corner shops
• 65% of CTN’s (confectioners, tobacconists, newsagents).
• More than 80% of independent pharmacies.
• In research commissioned last year, it was found that 43% of Asian store management or store owners were likely or very likely to stock up on product advertised on their own favourite channel, i.e. UK Asian TV.

Source: ONS 2001 census, UK Asian TV Audience Survey 2006 and 2009, Centre for social markets, William Reed, Nielsen.

 

Asian Business, Arts and Media in Britain

British Asian Demographics

Source: Office for National Statistics April 2001 Census

NB: ‘Asian’ is used here - in the most widely accepted current use of the term in the UK - to refer to people of South Asian origin or background.
Sri Lankans in the UK have been omitted from these tables because no specific figures for that community are available on the ONS website.

Total UK population

• Asians make up just over 4.0% of the total UK population - about 2,331,423 out of nearly 58,800,000
• Of these nearly 1.8% are Indian - 1,054,000
• 1.25% are Pakistani - 747,000
• And just under 0.5% are Bangladeshi - 283,000
• Or the ratio of Indians : Pakistanis : Bangladeshis = 10 : 7 : 3
• Distribution between the constituent parts of the UK
• Well over 96% of all Asians in the UK live in England itself - over 2 million
• Over 43% live in London and the South-East alone
• Less than 4% (under 75,000) live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined
• About 2.5% (under 49,000) live in Scotland, 1% (22,000) in Wales, and less than 0.1% (2,500) in
  Northern Ireland
  
  

 

Distribution within England

• Over 60% of all Asians in the UK live in the English regions outside London
• Outside London, the single region with the most Asians is the West Midlands (365,000)
• Followed by the North-West (215,000), Yorkshire and the Humber (210,000), the South-East (163,000), and the East Midlands (157,000)
• The two regions with the lowest number of Asians are the South-West (28,000) and the North-East (30,000)

London population

• 35% of all Asians in the UK live in the London area - 734,000
• 54% of all Bangladeshis live in London, 41% of Indians, but only 19% of Pakistanis
• There are more Bangladeshis than Pakistanis in London: 154,000 compared with 142,000
• There are approximately 3 Indians to every 1 Pakistani or Bangladeshi living in London
• The Indian communities are concentrated in the boroughs of Ealing, Brent and Harrow; Pakistani communities in Walthamstow, Newham and Ealing; and the Bangladeshi communities in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Camden.
  
  
  

 

Indians

• The largest single ethnic minority group in Britain – making up almost one quarter of the total ethnic minority population
• London has the largest concentration of Indians (437,000), followed by the West Midlands (179,000), the East Midlands (122,000), the South-East (89,000), and the North-West (72,000)
• There are over four times as many Indians as Pakistanis in the East Midlands (122,000 compared with 28,000)
• The English regions with the smallest Indian communities are the North-East (10,000) and the South-West (16,000)
• Under 3% live outside England - less than 25,000 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined
  
  
  

 

Pakistanis

• The most evenly spread across the UK of the three South Asian communities
• The largest concentrations are in the West Midlands (155,000) and Yorkshire and Humberside (146,000)
• The London Pakistani community is only the third largest concentration with 142,000 followed by the North-West (117,000)
• In Yorkshire and Humberside there are nearly three times as many Pakistanis as Indians (146,000 compared with 51,000), and in Scotland twice as many (32,000 compared with 15,000)
• More than 5% live outside England - 41,000 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined
  
  
  

 

Bangladeshis

• The smallest of the three main South Asian communities in the UK
• More than half of all Bangladeshis live in London (54%)
• In the English regions the largest concentrations of Bangladeshis are in the West Midlands (31,000) and the North-West (26,000)
• But even in the region of greatest concentration outside London (West Midlands), there is only 1 Bangladeshi for every 6 Indians and 5 Pakistanis
• There are very few Bangladeshis living outside England - less than 3% (8,000 in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined).