Four in ten under-20s in London aren't white
By Steve Doughty
Mail OnLine
Last updated at 10:48 PM on 24th June 2009
Four out of ten young people in London are members of ethnic minorities, it was revealed yesterday.
A government report found that more than 700,000 children and teenagers are classed as non-white, around 40 per cent of the age group in the capital.
At present, just over a third of Londoners of all ages are reckoned to be non-white – but the new figures indicate that this share will grow substantially in the future.
They also point to the way recent waves of immigration have made a bigger impact on London than other parts of the country.
The analysis from the Office for National Statistics said that in the West Midlands, the second most multi-racial area of the country after London, just 19 per cent of children and teenagers are non-white.
The figures were disclosed in Whitehall's annual Regional Trends report.
They drew warnings from migration experts that politicians are taking a risk by ignoring the changing nature of cities and suburbs.
Sir Andrew Green of the Migrationwatch think-tank said: 'This illustrates the massive change that is taking place to our society at a rapid pace and without the indigenous population ever being consulted.
'It is high time that the political class took their heads out of the clouds and responded to the very strong public opinion that wants to bring immigration under control.'
Many of the migrants who have come into Britain in the past ten years have settled in London.
Three London boroughs have had majority ethnic minority populations since the turn of the Millennium – Newham, Tower Hamlets and Brent – and others are likely to see whites become a minority in the near future.
The estimates yesterday put the under-20 ethnic minority population of London at 714,000.
Around 15 per cent of young Londoners are classed as Asian or Asian British, it said, and 14 per cent black or black British.
Lowest populations of ethnic minority youngsters were in the North-East – five per cent of all people under 20 – and in the South-West, at six per cent.
The all-party Balanced Migration group of MPs said that 70 per cent of future population increase and 40 per cent of new households will be a result of immigration.
In a statement, the group's co-chairmen, Labour MP Frank Field and Tory Nicholas Soames, said: 'As we face severe cuts in public spending, it is the politics of madness to continue with immigration policies that will mean us having to provide thousands of new homes for newcomers – not to mention the necessary roads, schools and hospitals – on this unprecedented scale, when our own citizens, both black and white, cannot get homes.'
