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Cultural Diversity - Demography and Statistics (1)

Introduction

The demography of populations in any given region or country can be looked upon as varying over time not just in numbers but also across gender, age, and ethnicity. Within the demographic characteristics, differentiation can be made about the majority and minority (minorities), migration patterns, status of migrants to the host country in terms of workers, students, asylum seekers and refugees and other categories.

Migration itself has as long a history as humanity itself and mobility has been a hallmark in the evolution of human societies. There has been a long history of migration to and from Britain. In an era of globalisation and post-colonisation, there have been many instances of migrations to Britain of people from different parts of the world, for example from Ireland, west Africa and south-east Asia. However, in the recent past, famine, strife and conflicts in some regions of the world have necessitated people to leave their countries and to seek refuge in Britain.

The 1991 census data made it possible for the first time to look at the demographic characteristics of the United Kingdom in terms of ethnic origins of people.

As already noted earlier, the categories used were of some help in global terms, they hid information that would have otherwise been more helpful in making sense of the ethnic origins of people born here and in other countries. In summary, ethnic groups were hidden within the broad categories.

The Fourth National Survey (Modood et al., 1997) is a useful source for information on the demographic characteristics of people, and includes an extensive section on health and health related issues, from health behaviours to the use of services.

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