Demographics of the West Midlands County

The Demographics of West Midlands County is analysed by the Office for National Statistics and data is produced for each of its seven metropolitan boroughs and the county overall.

Population density in the 2011 census in the West Midlands.

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group	Year
	1966 estimations		1971 estimations		1981 estimations		1991 census		2001 census		2011 census		2021 census
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
White: Total	–	–	2,580,903	93.2%	2,371,072	88.7%	2,237,135	85.1%	2,043,231	80%	1,919,138	70.1%	1,793,173	61.4%
White: British	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,956,156	76.5%	1,806,708	66%	1,630,823	55.9%
White: Irish	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	54,011	2.1%	39,183	1.4%	31,490	1.1%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1,618		2,417
White: Roma	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	4,246
White: Other	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	33,064	1.3%	71,629	2.6%	124,197	4.3%
Asian or Asian British: Total	–	–	–	–	206,289	7.7%	276,162	10.5%	352,288	13.8%	514,981	18.8%	667,315	22.9%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	–	–	–	–	118,101	4.4%	148,320	5.6%	157,062	6.1%	185,271	6.8%	226,927	7.8%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	–	–	–	–	65,985	2.5%	93,426	3.6%	138,007	5.4%	200,545	7.3%	278,837	9.6%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	–	–	–	–	11,006	0.4%	19,131	0.7%	29,085	1.1%	48,727		72,168	2.5%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	–	–	–	–	4,543	0.2%	6,119	0.2%	10,548	0.4%	21,430		22,718	0.8%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	–	–	–	–	6,654		9,166		17,586		59,008		66,665	2.3%
Black or Black British: Total	–	–	–	–	80,412	3%	96,384	3.7%	95,234	3.7%	164,069	6%	236,047	8.1%
Black or Black British: African	–	–	–	–	3,602	0.1%	4,134	0.2%	10,000	0.4%	55,557	2%	126,041	4.3%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	–	–	–	–	63,597	2.4%	75,612	2.9%	76,386	3%	79,632	2.9%	81,732	2.8%
Black or Black British: Other Black	–	–	–	–	13,213		16,638	0.6%	8,848	0.3%	28,880		28,274	1%
Mixed: Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	54,757	2.1%	96,204	3.5%	121,685	4.2%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	31,525	1.2%	53,234	1.9%	59,903	2.1%
Mixed: White and Black African	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	2,446		6,053		9,735
Mixed: White and Asian	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	12,641		21,964		28,872
Mixed: Other Mixed	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	8,145		14,953		23,175
Other: Total	–	–	–	–	15,327	0.5%	19,719	0.7%	10,082	0.4%	42,068	1.5%	101,435	3.5%
Other: Arab	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	16,029		28,083	1%
Other: Any other ethnic group	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	10,082	0.4%	26,039		73,352	2.5%
Ethnic minority: Total	102,850	–	188,306	6.8%	302,027	11.3%	392,265	14.9%	512,361	20%	817,322	29.9%	1,126,482	38.6%
Total	–	100%	2,769,209	100%	2,673,099	100%	2,629,400	100%	2,555,592	100%	2,736,460	100%	2,919,655	100%

Distribution of ethnic groups in the West Midlands according to the 2011 census.

• 
  White
• 
  White-British
• 
  White-Irish
• 
  White-Other
• 
  Asian
• 
  Asian-Indian
• 
  Asian-Pakistani
• 
  Asian-Bangladeshi
• 
  Asian-Chinese
• 
  Black
• 
  Black-African
• 
  Black-Caribbean
• 
  Other-Arab

Country of birth

Country of birth	2021
	Number	%
United Kingdom	2,286,558	78.3%
EU Countries	165,431	5.7%
Other European	15,241	0.5%
Africa	102,205	3.5%
Middle East and Asia	308,122	10.6%
Caribbean and Americas	37,477	1.3%
Oceania	2,275	0.1%
British Overseas	2,340	0.1%
Overall	2,919,649	100%

Religion

Religion	2001		2021
	Number	%	Number	%
No religion	305,365	11.9%	814,372	27.9%
Christian	1,701,519	66.5%	1,189,066	40.7%
Buddhist	5,817		9,380
Hindu	49,484		68,376
Jewish	3,310		2,559
Muslim	191,559	7.5%	501,480	17.2%
Sikh	91,890		148,937
Other religion	5,381		17,805
Not answered	201,267		167,685
Total	2,555,592	100%	2,919,660	100%

Distribution of religions in the West Midlands according to the 2011 census.

• 
  Christianity
• 
  Islam
• 
  Judaism
• 
  Hinduism
• 
  Sikhism
• 
  Buddhism
• 
  Other religion
• 
  No religion

Housing

Tenure	2001		2021
	Number	%	Number	%
Owned	667,665		657,680
Social renting	262,163		248,490
Private renting	73,373		221,929
Rent free	29,743		3,661
Total	1,032,944	100%	1,131,760