A cosmopolitan society

Most people in Britain are English, Scottish or Welsh, but in some cities you can meet people of many different nationalities. In London you will find lots of businesses run by Arabs, Greeks, Indians, Italians, Jamaicans, Nigerians, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, as well as British.

But is Britain a cosmopolitan society? It really depends on where you go. There are large areas of Britain untouched by immigration. In the last census, 5.5 per cent of the 57 million population described themselves as belonging to an ethnic minority of Caribbean, African or Asian origin. In Scotland, Wales, the North and the South West of England, only 1 per cent of the population belongs to an ethnic minority. Most members of ethnic minorities live in the South East. In Greater London, they represent 20 per cent of the population.

London´s immigrants come from inside and outside Europe. Many people from the EU come to work for a short time. There is almost the same number of Irish immigrants (3.8 per cent of the population) as Caribbean immigrants (4.4 per cent of the population). Many so-called “immigrants“ are born in Britain: more than 36,000 Londoners born in Britain describe themselves as “Black British“ instead of “African“ or “Afro-Caribbean“.

a  Are there any immigrant groups in your country?

b  If yes, where do they come from?

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 20