Respondents to a recent YouGov survey of 1,800 adults indicates that people overestimate the scale of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities in the UK and underestimate the white population. So what are the official figures?
Religion: Some 4% are Muslim, and just 0.5% are Jewish.
Ethnicity: 87% are White, 3% are Black, and 10% other ethnicity.
Diet: Around 4% are Vegetarian.
Sexual orientation: Some 1.3% are Bisexual, and 1.8% are Gay/Lesbian. Between 0.3% and 0.7% self identify as a different gender to their biological sex.
Why does the public view differ from the actual figures? Recent efforts to be more inclusive in films, the music industry, broadcasting (tv) and print media, and to remove historical bias against minorities in applying for jobs, and being the first to lose jobs (e.g. in downsizing companies), together with the fact that ethnic minorities tend to live close by others of like ethnicity, have inadvertently skewed public perception.
I've not been able to find the YouGov survey results so no link to that.
Source: Mick Hume article in Daily Mail, 7 June 2022
