British Afro-Caribbean people

Distribution by local authority in the 2011 census
Total population
United Kingdom: 628,296 – 0.9% (2021/22 Census)  England: 619,419 – 1.1% (2021)[1]  Scotland: 2,214 – 0.04% (2022)[a][2]  Wales: 3,700 – 0.1% (2021)[1] Northern Ireland: 2,963 – 0.2% (2021)[b][3]
Regions with significant populations
London Birmingham Manchester Wolverhampton Nottingham Luton Leeds Bristol
Languages
British English · Caribbean English
Religion
Predominantly Christianity (69.1%); minority follows other faiths (2.7%)[c] or are irreligious (18.6%) 2021 census, England and Wales only[4]
Related ethnic groups
African diaspora · African-Caribbean · Bahamian British · British Jamaicans · Guyanese British · Barbadian British · Grenadian British · Montserratian British · Trinidadian and Tobagonian British · Antiguan British

British Afro-Caribbean people or British Black Caribbean people^[5][6] an ethnic group in the United Kingdom.^[7] They are British citizens whose recent ancestors originate from the Caribbean, and further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-Caribbean people who are multi-racial. The most common and traditional use of the term African-Caribbean community is in reference to groups of residents continuing aspects of Caribbean culture, customs and traditions in the UK.

The earliest generations of Afro-Caribbean people to migrate to Britain trace their ancestry to a wide range of Afro Caribbean ethnic groups.^[8][9][10] Afro-Caribbean people descend from disparate groups of African peoples who were brought, sold and taken from^[11][12] West Africa as slaves to the colonial Caribbean.^[13] In addition, British African Caribbeans may have ancestry from various indigenous Caribbean tribes, and from settlers of European and Asian ethnic groups.^[14] According to the National Library of Medicine, the average African Caribbean person has on average 20% European Admixture.^[15][16]

Arriving in small numbers to reside in port cities in England and Wales since the mid-18th century, the most significant wave of migration came after World War II, coinciding with the decolonisation era and the dissolution of the British Empire. Known as the Windrush generation, they had arrived as citizens of United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs) in the 1950s and 1960s owing to birth in the former British colonies of the Caribbean. Although those who settled in the UK prior to 1973 were granted either right of abode or indefinite leave to remain by the Immigration Act 1971, a series of governmental policies had caused some to be erroneously labelled as unlawfully residing in the UK in the 2000s and 2010s, which subsequently became known as the Windrush scandal.^[17] The population has a diverse background, with origins in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, and Belize.

In the 21st century, Afro-Caribbean communities are present throughout the United Kingdom's major cities, and the surviving members of this generation, sometimes called the Windrush Britons, and their descendants, constitute the multi-ethnic cultural group residing in the country. As there is no specific UK census category which comprehensively covers the community, population numbers remain somewhat ambiguous. 'Black Caribbean' (under a 'Black British' heading), and 'Mixed: White and Black Caribbean' (under a 'Mixed' heading) denote full or partial descent, and recorded 594,825 and 426,715 persons, respectively, at the 2011 United Kingdom census. 'White: White Caribbean', 'Mixed: Caribbean Asian' and 'Mixed: White Caribbean' are census categories which were also utilised.^[18][19] In this regard, and illustrating complexities within African Caribbean peoplehood, there are notable examples of those with a parent or grandparent of African-Caribbean ancestry identifying with, or being perceived as, white people in the United Kingdom.^{[20][21][22][23][24]}

Terminology

A glossary published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health with the intention of stimulating debate about the development of better and more internationally applicable terms to describe ethnicity and race, suggests a definition of Afro-Caribbean/African Caribbean as, "A person of African ancestral origins whose family settled in the Caribbean before emigrating and who self identifies, or is identified, as Afro-Caribbean (in terms of racial classifications, this population approximates to the group known as Negroid or similar terms)".^[25] A survey of the use of terms to describe people of African descent in medical research notes that: "The term African Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean when used in Europe and North America usually refers to people with African ancestral origins who migrated via the Caribbean islands". It suggests that use of the term in the UK is inconsistent, with some researchers using it to describe people of Black and of Caribbean descent, whereas others use it to refer to those of either West African or Caribbean background.^[26] Furthermore, as immigration to the United Kingdom from Africa increased in the late 20th century, the term has sometimes been used to include British residents solely of African origin or as a term to define all Black British residents, though the phrase African and Caribbean has more often been used to cover such a broader grouping.

The British Sociological Association's guidelines on ethnicity and race state that "African-Caribbean has replaced the term Afro-Caribbean to refer to Caribbean peoples and those of Caribbean origin who are of African descent. There is now a view that the term should not be hyphenated and that indeed, the differences between such groups mean the people of African and Caribbean origins should be referred to separately".^[27] The Guardian and Observer style guide prescribes the use of "African-Caribbean" for use in the two newspapers, specifically noting "not Afro-Caribbean".^[28]

Sociologist Peter J. Aspinall argues that the term "Black" has been reclaimed by people of African and Caribbean origin in the UK, noting that in a 1992 health survey, 17 per cent of 722 African–Caribbeans surveyed, including 36 percent of those aged 16 to 29, described themselves as "Black British". This, he suggests, "appears to be a pragmatic and spontaneous (rather than politically led) response to the wish to describe an allegiance to a 'British' identity and the diminishing importance of ties with a homeland in the Caribbean".^[29]

Census

There isn't one particular 'ethnic group' census category used by the Office for National Statistics, within the UK census, which comprehensively describes or encompasses persons who are a part of, or identified with, the African-Caribbean community in the United Kingdom.

'Black Caribbean' is the category which recorded the highest population figures (associated with African Caribbean heritage) at the 2011 and 2021 United Kingdom censuses. 'Black Caribbean' is under a 'Black or Black British' heading in the census. 'Mixed: White and Black Caribbean' also had a significant recorded population within the country, denoting unquantified partial African Caribbean descent, as well as 'White' ancestry. This ethnic group category was listed under a 'Mixed' heading in the census.^[30][31]

Other 'Mixed' subcategories which identify some form of Caribbean descent are 'Mixed: Caribbean Asian' and 'Mixed: White Caribbean'.^[18] 'White Other: White Caribbean', a write-in ethnic group under the White Other census subcategory, may also denote partial or distant African Caribbean heritage.^[19] Outside of censuses, there are notable examples of people with African Caribbean ancestry (often via a grandparent or great-grandparent) who are perceived as, or identified with, being white people in the United Kingdom.^{[20][21][22][23][24]}

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of England and Wales, 623,115 people classified themselves as 'Black Caribbean", amounting to 1 per cent of the total population.^[31]

In the 2011 Census of England and Wales, 594,825 individuals specified their ethnicity as "Caribbean" under the "Black/African/Caribbean/Black British" heading, and 426,715 as "White and Black Caribbean" under the "Mixed/multiple ethnic group" heading.^[30] In Scotland, 3,430 people classified themselves as "Caribbean, Caribbean Scottish or Caribbean British" and 730 as "Other Caribbean or Black" under the broader "Caribbean or Black" heading.^[33] In Northern Ireland, 372 people specified their ethnicity as "Caribbean".^[34] The published results for the "Mixed" category are not broken down into sub-categories for Scotland and Northern Ireland as they are for England and Wales.^[33][34]

In the UK Census of 2001, 565,876 people classified themselves in the category 'Black Caribbean', amounting to around 1 per cent of the total population.^[35] Of the "minority ethnic" population, which amounted to 7.9 per cent of the total UK population, Black Caribbean people accounted for 12.2 per cent.^[35] In addition, 14.6 per cent of the minority ethnic population (equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the total population) identified as mixed race, of whom around one third stated that they were of mixed Black Caribbean and White descent.^[35]

Birthplace

The Census also records respondents' countries of birth and the 2001 Census recorded 146,401 people born in Jamaica, 21,601 from Barbados, 21,283 from Trinidad and Tobago, 20,872 from Guyana, 9,783 from Grenada, 8,265 from Saint Lucia, 7,983 from Montserrat, 7,091 from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 6,739 from Dominica, 6,519 from Saint Kitts and Nevis, 3,891 from Antigua and Barbuda and 498 from Anguilla.^[37]

Detailed country-of-birth data from the 2011 Census is published separately for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In England and Wales, 160,095 residents reported their country of birth as Jamaica, 22,872 Trinidad and Tobago, 18,672 Barbados, 9,274 Grenada, 9,096 St Lucia, 7,390 St Vincent and the Grenadines, 7,270 Montserrat, 6,359 Dominica, 5,629 St Kitts and Nevis, 3,697 Antigua and Barbuda, 2,355 Cuba, 1,812 The Bahamas and 1,303 Dominican Republic. 8,301 people reported being born elsewhere in the Caribbean, bringing the total Caribbean-born population of England and Wales to 264,125. Of this number, 262,092 were resident in England and 2,033 in Wales.^[38] In Scotland, 2,054 Caribbean-born residents were recorded,^[39] and in Northern Ireland 314.^[40] Guyana is categorised as part of South America in the Census results, which show that 21,417 residents of England and Wales, 350 of Scotland and 56 of Northern Ireland were born in Guyana. Belize is categorised as part of Central America. 1,252 people born in Belize were recorded living in England and Wales, 79 in Scotland and 22 in Northern Ireland.^[39][40][38]

Based on a variety of official sources and extrapolating from figures for England alone, Ceri Peach estimated that the number of people in Britain born in the West Indies grew from 15,000 in 1951, to 172,000 in 1961 and 304,000 in 1971, and then fell slightly to 295,000 in 1981. He estimates the population of West Indian ethnicity in 1981 to be between 500,000 and 550,000.^[41]

Education

Black Caribbeans are more likely than White Britons to have formal qualifications. In 2001, around 29% of White Britons had no qualifications, compared to 27% for Black Caribbeans. In 2011, 24% of White British had no qualifications, higher than the national average of 23%, compared to 20% for Black Caribbeans.^[42][43]

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a disproportionate number of Caribbean migrant children were (often wrongly) classified as "educationally subnormal" and placed in special schools and units.^[44][45] By the end of the 1980s, the chances of white school leavers finding employment were four times better than those of black pupils. In 2000–01, black pupils were three times more likely than white pupils and ten times more likely than Indian pupils to be officially excluded from school for disciplinary reasons.^[46]

In 2004, 23.2 per cent of Black Caribbean pupils in England achieved five or more GCSEs or equivalent at grades A* to C including English and mathematics, compared with 41.6 per cent of White British pupils and 40.9 per cent of all pupils regardless of ethnicity. In 2013, the equivalent figures were 53.3 per cent for Black Caribbean pupils, 60.5 per cent for White British pupils and 60.6 per cent overall. Black Caribbean pupils from low income backgrounds tend to academically perform better than White British pupils from low income families.^[47][48] Amongst pupils eligible for free school meals (used as a measure of low family incomes), Black Caribbean pupils outperformed White British pupils by 36.9 to 27.9 per cent for boys and 47.7 to 36.8 per cent for girls in 2013. A report published by the Department for Education in 2015 notes that "Black Caribbean and Mixed White & Black Caribbean students have...shown very strong improvement, from being half as likely White British students to achieve the benchmarks of educational success in the early 2000s to near parity in 2013, although stubborn gaps do remain".^[49]

Black Caribbean pupils have a higher university entry rate than White British students.^[50]

Socio-economics

Socio-economic status is based on the type of work a person does, or what they used to do if they are retired. According to data based on the 2011 Census, 40.7% of Black Caribbeans placed in the top 3 socio-economic groups (higher/lower managerial, professional and intermediate). This ranked as the fifth highest combined percentage out of the 18 ethnicities featured.^[51]

In terms of occupational class, research by Professor Yaojun Li finds that second-generation Black Caribbean men (i.e. those born in the UK or arrived before the age of 13) are more or less on par with White British men, while Black Caribbean women had a higher occupational class than White British women from the 1970s to the 1990s. Second-generation Black Caribbean women have now surpassed White British women.^[52] Further research by Dr Richard Norrie of Civitas noted a growing Black middle class, with around 35.7% of Black Caribbean men in "middle class" jobs in 2020 (compared to only 7% in the 1970s/1980s). The corresponding 2020 figure for White British men is 35.8%. The report claims that this convergence is "testimony to the accomplishments of black Caribbean men, as well as the openness of British economic life".^[53][54]

In 2007, a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that Black Caribbeans had one of the lowest poverty rates among the different main ethnic minority groups in Britain. Of the largest non-white ethnic minority groups, Bangladeshis (65%), Pakistanis (55%) and Black Africans (45%) had the highest poverty rates. Black Caribbeans (30%) and Indians (25%) had the lowest rates. For families where at least one adult was in paid work, Black Caribbeans and Indians again had the lowest poverty rates of 10-15%, compared to around 60% for Bangladeshis, 40% for Pakistanis and 30% for Black Africans.^[55] In 2011, a further comparison found that Black Caribbeans (with British Chinese and Indians) had lower child and adult poverty rates than Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Black Africans.^[56]

White Britons tend to have the highest net wealth. Estimates of Black Caribbean wealth vary, according to source. A 2020 report by the Resolution Foundation found Black Caribbeans have a median net family wealth per adult of £120,000 (higher than Chinese, Black African, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Other White), placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK.^[57] Civitas's study found that Black Caribbeans have an individual median wealth of £85,000 - again placing them in third place out of the major ethnic groups in the UK:^[54]

Between 1972-2020, of the largest ethnic minority groups in Britain, Black Caribbeans (and Indians) had the highest employment rates overall. For much of the 1970s, Black Caribbeans had the highest employment rates - even higher than the White ethnic group.^[58]

Between 2004-2008 and 2013-2014, Black Caribbeans earned more than their White British counterparts.^[59] In 2015, the Equality and Human Rights Commission conducted research into ethnic minority pay gaps between 1993-2014. The report found that UK born Black Caribbean men had closed much of the pay gap to White British males, while UK born Black Caribbean women consistently out-earned White British women.^[60]

In 2019, Black Caribbeans had a higher hourly median wage than Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Black Africans, White other and the other Asian ethnic group. Black Caribbean women continued to earn more on average than White British women.^[58]

Population distribution

According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, the ten local authorities with the largest proportion of Black Caribbean people were largely concentrated in Greater London: Lewisham (10.61%), Croydon (9.24%), Lambeth (9.13%), Hackney (6.91%), Waltham Forest (6.32%), Brent (6.26%), Haringey (6.18%), Southwark (5.90%), Enfield (5.15%) and Birmingham (3.91%). In Wales, the highest proportion was in Cardiff at 0.37%.^[62]

In the 2011 Census, the greatest concentration of 'Black Caribbean' people is found in London, where 344,597 residents classified themselves as Black Caribbean, accounting for 4.2 per cent of the city's population.^[30] Other significant concentrations were (not in order) Birmingham,^[63] Manchester, Bradford, Nottingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton,Luton, Watford, Slough, Leicester, Bristol, Gloucester, Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Liverpool and Cardiff. In these cities, the community is traditionally associated with a particular area, such as Brixton, Harlesden, Stonebridge, Hackney, Lewisham, Tottenham, Croydon and Peckham in London, West Bowling and Heaton in Bradford, Chapeltown in Leeds,^[64] St. Pauls in Bristol,^[65] Handsworth and Aston in Birmingham, Moss Side in Manchester, St Ann's in Nottingham, Pitsmoor in Sheffield and Toxteth in Liverpool. According to the 2011 UK Census Birmingham was home to the largest Black Caribbean population, followed by Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth, Brent and Hackney.

Religion