Glossary: Official ethnic classifications

The current official classification – used in the census and in many of the official datasets used in this research – is based on the following 16-way division:

• White, comprising White British, White Irish, and White Other
• Asian or Asian British, comprising Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Other Asian
• Black or Black British, comprising, Black Caribbean, Black African, and Black Other
• Chinese, and Other
• Mixed, comprising White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian, and Any Other Mixed

In some of the low income analysis, White British and White Other are grouped together to enable comparisons over time, as the White Other group was only introduced in the relevant dataset in 2001. In some datasets, White Irish are included as White Other. ONS estimate that White Irish make up around one fifth of this larger White Other group.

Moreover, these definitions assign an ethnicity to the household, rather than the individuals in the household, based on the ethnicity of the head of the household.

The 'Other' and 'Mixed' groups are not analysed either collectively or separately on grounds of sample reliability. Given the diversity within the groups, we do not present an analysis of, for instance, All Other, or All Mixed.

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