White British 87.2% Black/African/Caribbean/black British 3% Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3% Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9% Mixed 2% Other 3.7%
Major Ethnic Groups of Northern Europe
As can be expected from a subregion so vast, the ethnic groups are both numerous and diverse. The predominant ethnic groups that make up the population of our sub-region are from the countries within the region: Norwegian, Lithuanian, Latvian, British, Irish, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, and Estonian. In addition to these obvious majorities, there are a number of people who classify as Russian or mixed/other. As many of the countries in our region are part of the EU, where people can move freeely throuhgout the countries as if they were one, families are often joined across countries giving life to increasingly mixed-race generations.
Ethnic Distribution
Although many of the predominant ethnic groups originate from the countries within our region, there are a few major ethnic groups such as Russian, Polish, Belarusian, and Indian that would be of surprise when observed next to a list of countries in Northern Europe. The Russian population in Northern Europe, accounting for over 5% of the population, resides almost entirely in the Baltic countries. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were formerly under Soviet rule from 1944-1991 increasing the Russian population in Latvia and Estonia- countries which share a border with the former Soviet Union- to almost one-fifth of their entire population. These baltic states also border Belarus, whose ethnic group accounts for .57% of the population in Northern Europe. Another border country to Northern Europe in Poland, whose ethnic group accounts for .88% of the population in Northern Europe. These countries, although not included in Northern Europe, are in the vacinity of our sub-region, unlike India, whose ethnic group accounts for .42% of the population in Northern Europe. Before India was its own country, it was comprised of colonies, some of which were British. The reason that the Indian population in Northern Europe is so high is because when India gained independence from Britain, many people of the Indian ethnic group chose to retain their British citizenship, later moving to the UK. The colonies established by many of the countries in Northern Europe have been the primary cause for ethnic diversity in the region.