Facts & figures about Herefordshire

Ethnicity

Key issues:
  

• Herefordshire has a relatively small, but growing, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) population:
  - at least 10,600 residents in 2009 were from an ethnic group other than 'white British';
  - this represented 6% of the total population, which is very low compared to both England and the West Midlands region overall (17% & 18%, respectively); 
  - in 2001, the proportion was 3% - meaning the county's BAME population has more than doubled over the decade
• The largest single group is 'white: other than British or Irish' (at least 4,300 people), and it is likely that many are Polish.

As can be seen from the table below, people of ethnic origin ‘white: other than British or Irish’ account for just over two fifths of the county’s BAME population, followed by ‘Asian or Asian British’ (2,000 people) and ‘mixed’ (1,400).  The ‘white: other’ group has had the largest increase in number (2,400 extra individuals since 2001) followed by ‘Asian or Asian British’ (1,600 extra since 2001).

Provisional figures from ONS suggest that the offical estimates on which these BAME numbers are based have underestimated immigration to Herefordshire by several thousand people since 2006.  There are no official estimates of where these migrants come from, but based on various administrative datasets (e.g. people registering for a National Insurance Number or to vote; births and school-children; interpretation requests) it is likely that most are from eastern Europe, particularly Poland.  So it is likely that these BAME figures underestimate the true number of people from an ethnic minority.      

Source: Experimental estimates by ethnic group, ONS (Crown Copyright).
Figures rounded to 100 so may not sum

The BAME population has a younger age profile than the county as a whole: almost half of all BAME residents are aged 16-44, compared to just a third of the whole population – although both have similar proportions of under 16s.

Note that these estimates are based on the resident population, meaning that people who come to Herefordshire from outside the UK for less than a year will not be included in the figures - including the several thousand seasonal workers from overseas that come to work on Herefordshire farms over the spring and summer.  More information about seasonal and migrant workers in Herefordshire can be found in the economy section.

Information about research carried out with minority groups can be found in the research into minority groups page.

You may also be interested in the work of Herefordshire Council's Diversity Team.

Last updated: 17 October 2012