Understanding Inequality – Appendix
Understanding Inequality in Surrey: An Evidence Base
Appendix 1: A note on terminology around race and ethnicity in this document.
We recognise that ethnicity is a multifaceted concept which may be expressed in different ways depending on context. We also recognise that ethnicity can be of deep importance to people’s self-identity and that, due to historical structural inequalities, ethnic origin is still linked to inequalities of outcome for many. We have chosen to use terminology in this report based on the 2021 Census, as this data is the most robust and up to date that we have. However, we do acknowledge the limitations of this data and the categories it offers, and that many people have ways of expressing their ethnic origin which do not neatly fit into one of its classifications.
The Census asks respondents to state their ethnic group against a list which contains 5 main ethnic groupings, each of which contains a number of more detailed classifications:
Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh
- Bangladeshi
- Chinese
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Any other Asian background
Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African
- African background
- Caribbean
- Any other Black, Black British or Caribbean background
Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups
- White and Asian
- White and Black African
- White and Black Caribbean
- Any other Mixed or Multiple background
Other Ethnic Group
- Arab
- Any other ethnic group
White
- English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British
- Gypsy or Irish Traveller
- Irish
- Roma
- Any other White background
This means that each person’s ethnicity is reported as one of the main classifications followed by the more detailed category – for example ‘Asian, Asian, British, Asian Welsh – Bangladeshi’ or ‘Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African – Caribbean’. For sake of space in some graphs in this document we sometimes only include the more detailed category, for example writing ‘Bangladeshi’ or ‘Caribbean’ but these should be read to include the wording of the main classification to which they relate.