Indians are largest ethnic group in UK

People of Indian origin are the largest ethnic group in the UK, numbering 1.1 million or two per cent of the total population of over 60 million, according to a census-based research.

More than 40 per cent of Indians live in London and 30 per cent in the West and East Midlands, the study published Friday said. Among the Indian population 76 per cent own homes in Britain while 66 per cent of the whites own homes. Hindus are the largest religious group, accounting for 45 per cent of the population, followed by Sikhs, with 30 per cent, the study reported in The Times, said.

Leicester has the biggest proportion of Indians of any local council, more than 25 per cent of the authority's population. In 2001, a third of British Indians came from India, 13 per cent from East Africa and 46 per cent from Britain. Most British Indians are aged between 20 and 50 years, with only 7 per cent over 65. According to the latest figures, from the 2001 census, in nine out of the 32 London boroughs, less than 50 per cent of the population was white, with the figure falling to 34 per cent in Newham, East London, and lower still in Brent.

Brent was the most ethnically diverse part of the country with a population comprising 29 per cent white British, 18 per cent Indian, 10 per cent black Caribbean, 8 per cent black African and 9 per cent other white.

British Bangladeshis are least likely to be in managerial or professional jobs and half of them are women who have never worked or are long-term unemployed. The nearby borough of Harrow had the highest religious diversity, leading to an almost 66 per cent chance that two people at random would belong to a different faith. The major religious group in Harrow was Christian, which made up 47 per cent of the population followed by 20 per cent Hindu, 7 per cent Muslim and 6 per cent Jewish.