Some 9% of people in Britain are non-white. While there were predictions of a large growth in ethnic minorities in some cities, the picture is more complicated than that.

Two areas of London have become the first in the UK to have a non-white majority – Newham and Brent.

THE KEY FACTS
9% say they are non-white First ever figures for mixed-race London has most minorities Two areas majority non-white

The city long predicted to have the first non-white majority, Leicester, actually has minority ethnic communities comprising only 36% of its total population. This falls short of the predictions but it is still up from 29% in the 1991 census.

Further analysis of the ages of these communities will give academics a better idea of how Britain is changing.

What the figures don't tell us at the moment is how mobile the UK's minority communities have become. Many academics predict that British Indians will prove to be highly mobile because of a historically high level of qualifications.

London, as expected has the highest proportion of minority ethnic communities. Just a whisker over 50% of the city's people describe themselves as white British.

A further 14% are either white Irish or white other, which includes Europeans, Americans, Australians and New Zealanders to name but a few.

There are now more ethnically African residents (8%) in London than black Caribbean (7%). The largest Asian community is Bangladeshis (5%), principally in east London.