CENSUS data on nationality and ethnicity in Oxford reveals that thousands more people now choose British rather than English as their national identity.

Only 8.5 per cent of Oxford residents now identify as ‘English only’, down from 42.5 per cent in the 2011 census.

The number who identify as ‘British only’ has jumped from 22.9 per cent to 49 per cent, in what may be a post-Brexit shift in national identity.

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Overall, those with a British national identity, including English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and Cornish, make up 76 per cent of Oxford’s population.

Ethnicity in the city is also changing. The majority of people are white, at 70.7 per cent, followed by Asian, including east and southeast Asian, at 15.4 per cent.

More people identify as having a mixed ethnic background, at 5.6 per cent, and the Black population makes up 4.7 per cent of the population.

MAP: View a map of all the Census data here

The biggest increase is in Oxford’s Asian ethnic group, now 15.4 per cent of the population, up 3 per cent. This is much higher than both the county, 6.4 per cent, and national, 9.6 per cent, figures.

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Of people who identify as Asian, the Pakistani community has seen the biggest increase –from 3.2 per cent to 4.1 per cent of the total city population.

The Indian community has seen the second biggest increase from 2.9 per cent to 3.7 per cent.

The Chinese Community has grown from 2.3 per cent to 2.8 per cent of Oxford’s population. Oxford’s Black population is largely unchanged at 4.7 per cent.

Nationally there is a trend for fewer people to have a religious belief which is also true in Oxford. Just over half of people still have a religious belief, at 51.1 per cent compared to 58.6 per cent in 2011.

Christianity remains the largest religion but has seen the biggest decrease of all religions – down from 48 per cent in 2011 to 38.1 per cent. 

Oxford has a lower proportion of residents who identify as Christian compared to the county and nationally.

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The religion that has seen the biggest increase is Muslim, up from 6.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent - an increase of 1.9 per cent.

There is a larger proportion of Muslim residents in Oxford compared to both the county and nationally

The Hindu population in Oxford has also increased slightly – up from 1.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent. Other religions remain broadly unchanged since the previous census.

In terms of language, a large minority identified a language other than English as their main language - 18.1 per cent. Portuguese was the most widely spoken other language.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Gee Harland. She joined the team in 2022 as a senior multimedia reporter.

Gee covers Wallingford, Wantage and Didcot.

Get in touch with her by emailing: Gee.harland@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @Geeharland

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