White Polish

This article is about one of the white ethnicity classifications used in the United Kingdom census. For the broad racial group, see white people in the United Kingdom. For the general page on Poles in the United Kingdom, see Polish Britons.

White Polish

Total population
Great Britain: 705,080 – 1.1% (2021/22 Census)[note 1]  England: 592,562 – 1.1% (2021)[1]  Scotland: 90,736 – 1.7% (2022)[2]  Wales: 21,782 – 0.7% (2021)[1] Northern Ireland: Unavailable (2021)[3]
Regions with significant populations
London Edinburgh Glasgow Southampton Aberdeen Leeds North Northamptonshire Birmingham ^[citation needed]
Languages
British English · Polish
Religion
Predominantly Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Other White people

White Polish is an ethnicity classification used in Scotland at the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2021 census, the White Polish ethnic group totalled 705,080 in Great Britain, 90,736 of which were in Scotland making up 1.67% of the total population of Scotland at the time.^[2]

In England and Wales, the category is not its own section like Scotland meaning write-in answers for "White Polish" are designated under the broader Other White group.^[4] However, the Office for National Statistics does provide data on the exact number of individuals who identified themselves as falling under the 'White Polish' ethnic category^[1] whereas the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency does not.^[3]

The Scottish Government's policy since 2011, however, has been to include "White Polish" as a specific subgrouping of the 5,084,407 white people recorded in Scotland at the last UK census. Other subgroupings in Scotland's census are "White Scottish", "White Other British", "White Irish", "White Gypsy / Traveller", and "White Other White".^[4][5][6]

Terminology

Local government, NHS and police

Outside of the national census, many county councils additionally use the "White Polish" category in local statistics, as do Police Scotland,^[7][8] and regional health boards of NHS Scotland.^[9] Some of the local governments that use the category include Angus Council^[10] and Dundee City Council.^[6]

Demographics

White Polish ethnic group by region and country

Region / Country	2021[11]		2011[14]
	Number	%	Number	%
England	592,562	1.05%	517,001	0.98%
—Greater London	116,056	1.32%	175,974	2.15%
—South East	91,470	0.99%	73,571	0.85%
—East Midlands	68,623	1.41%	28,676	0.63%
—East of England	66,321	1.05%	55,573	0.95%
—North West	65,065	0.88%	64,930	0.92%
—West Midlands	62,984	1.06%	55,216	0.99%
—Yorkshire and the Humber	60,383	1.10%	26,410	0.50%
—South West	51,397	0.90%	28,616	0.54%
—North East	10,261	0.39%	8,035	0.31%
Scotland[note 2]	90,736	1.67%	61,201	1.16%
Wales	21,782	0.70%	14,086	0.46%
Great Britain	705,080	1.08%	592,288	0.97%

Population and distribution

White Polish population pyramid in 2021 (in England and Wales)

The distribution of people who consider themselves to be White Polish is most concentrated in North East Scotland, with up to 3 per cent in Aberdeen at the 2011 census. Edinburgh had around a 3 per cent White Polish populace, and Dundee a 1.4 per cent,^[6] at the latest census.^[15] As of June 2015, around 3,000 people who identified with the category resided in Fife, which amounted to 0.8% the county's population.^[16]

Despite there being a long history of Polish immigration to Scotland,^[15] and therefore Polish ancestry within the country, data from the 2011 census suggests that the Scottish-born White Polish population were overwhelming the children of recent Polish migrants. Analyzed in Scottish Affairs, 80 per cent of White Polish infants were under the age of 3, suggesting that Scottish residents with Polish ancestry dating further back (such as the significant migrations of Poles during and after World War II) were most likely identifying as White Scottish.^[17]

As the category was introduced in 2011, in statistical research White Polish data is sometimes compared with the category of Other White for pre-2011 analysis.^[18]

Economic status and language

In the 2011 census results, at 56 per cent; White Polish people were most likely to be working as a full-time employee. The data also showed that people who self-identified as White Polish were most likely to be economically active in Scotland, at rate of 86 per cent of the group.^[19] In 2020, a Global Health Policy Unit publication identified 35 per cent of the grouping as working in "elementary occupations", which linked this to health risks, such as disproportionate exposure to COVID-19.^[20]

In 2011, the General Register Office for Scotland found that 1 per cent of the population used the Polish language at home exclusively, which was around the same percentage as use of Scots, and twice that of Scottish Gaelic.^[21]

Religion

Statistically, White Polish are more likely to be Christian than other religions. According to the 2011 UK Census, 49,537 White Polish (nearly 81%) are Christian in Scotland, the vast majority of which are Roman Catholic (46,963 persons), with smaller representations being Church of Scotland (524 persons), and 2,050 registering as "Other Christian".^[22]

Religion	Percentage of White Polish population[22]	Number
Christianity	80.94%	49,537
No religion	11.30%	6,916
Judaism	0.06%	39
Islam	0.21%	130
Buddhism	0.15%	95
Hinduism	0.01%	9
Sikhism	>0.01%	4
Not Stated	7.17%	4,393
Other religions	0.13%	78
Total	100%	61,201

Social and health issues

Discrimination

Between 2013 and 2014, Police Scotland data showed that up to 14 per cent of victims of racist incidents fell under the category of White Polish.^[7] Between April and June 2015, Police Scotland Forth Valley division's statistics (covering Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling) found that those defined as "White Polish" were the victims in 4.8% of the recorded hate crime-related incidents.^[8]

In 2020, the Daily Record reported accounts from former students of racial discrimination directed towards people who identified as, or were perceived to be, White Polish, at St Augustine's R.C. High School in Edinburgh.^[23]

Health

Scottish residents in the White Polish category generally reported good health under the age of 65. Both men and women, who listed themselves as White Polish, recorded almost half the rates of ill health than those of men and women identifying as White Scottish.^[24] A 2019 Ethnicity & Health analysis also demonstrated better health among the White Polish population compared with White Scottish data.^[25]

Between 12 March and 14 June 2020, of the 4,070 recorded COVID-19-involved deaths in Scotland, the White Polish group had one of the lowest shares at less than 0.1%, compared with White Irish at 1.3%, and White Scottish at 88.6%.^[26] In May 2020, a University of Edinburgh report associated the group's tendency to "elementary occupations" with risk of exposure to the virus.^[20]

Housing

In 2011, people in the category of White Polish were most likely to experience overcrowding in Scottish households.^[19]

See also

• Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
• Demographics of the United Kingdom
• Demographics of Scotland
• List of United Kingdom censuses
• Classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom
• National Statistics Socio-economic Classification
• Genetic history of the British Isles
• Historical immigration to Great Britain
• List of English districts and their ethnic composition
• Poles
• Polish people in the United Kingdom

Notes

1. Not to be confused with United Kingdom, excludes Northern Ireland
2. Scotland held its census a year later after the rest of the United Kingdom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, data shown is for 2022 as opposed to 2021.

References

1. "TS022 - Ethnic group (detailed)". Office for National Statistics. 29 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
2. "Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion - Chart data". Scotland's Census. National Records of Scotland. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024. Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Ethnic Group'
3. "Census 2021 Ethnic group - full detail MS-B02". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
4. "List of ethnic groups". UK Government. Scotland: The ethnicity question in the 2011 Census in Scotland asked respondents to choose from the following 19 ethnic groups: White; White Scottish; Other White British; White Irish; Gypsy / Traveller; White Polish; Other
5. Suzi Macpherson (9 June 2015). "SPICe Briefing: Ethnicity and Employment" (PDF). Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The current Scottish policy focus on ethnicity, for example, classifies people as "white" (including "white Scottish", "white British", "Irish" and "Polish") ... The largest group of the non-Scottish "white" population were "other British" (7.9%), while the white ethnicities, "Irish" and "Polish", each represented just over one per cent of the Scottish population ... Annexe 1 – The Scottish Population by Ethnicity - White: Polish; 61,201; 1.16%
6. "About Dundee 2018: statistics, demographics, general reference material" (PDF). Dundee City Council. 2018. Ethnicity: White: Polish; People: 1,990; Percentage 1.4%
7. "Rise in 'white British' racism incidents in Scotland". BBC. 24 November 2015. A total of 14% of victims were classed as "other white" - including "white Polish" and "white Irish" - and 13.1% were African, Caribbean or another black ethnic background.
8. "Multi-Agency Hate Response Strategy - Quarter 1 - (2015/2016) Incident Report - April - June 2015" (PDF). Central Scotland Regional Equality Council. 2016. p. 7. Table 5
9. "NHSGGC Director of Public Health Report 2015/17" (PDF). NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. 2015.
10. "Locality Plan Discussion Document April - July 2017" (PDF). Angus Council. 2017. Carnoustie Population Statistics: Ethnicity: White Polish 0.2% ... Monifieth & Sidlaw Population Statistics: White Polish 0.3%
11. 2021/22: England and Wales;^[1] and Scotland^[2]
12. "QS211EW: Ethnic group (detailed)". Nomis: Official Census and Labour Market Statistics. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
13. United Kingdom census (2011). "Table KS201SC - Ethnic group" (PDF). National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2018.
14. 2011: England and Wales;^[12] and Scotland^[13]
15. "Scotland and Poland - a 500 year relationship". The Scotsman. 24 March 2016. Today, the North East has one of the highest concentration of Polish nationals with three per cent of the population of Aberdeen recorded as white Polish, the same proportion of Edinburgh. The figure for Scotland is 1.2 per cent.
16. "Fife Population; an analysis by protected characteristics" (PDF). Fife Council. June 2015. p. 4. A new category for the 2011 Census showed that there were just over 3,000 persons living in Fife who stated they were 'White Polish', 0.8% of the total population.
17. Ross Bond (January 2017). "Minorities and Diversity in Scotland: Evidence from the 2011 Census". Scottish Affairs. Vol. 26. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 23–47. Further analysis of microdata suggests that the vast majority of the Scottish-born White Polish are the young children of recent Polish migrants rather than, e.g. offspring of migrants from previous eras, because nearly 80% are infants aged 3 or under.
18. Ludi Simpson (May 2014). "How has ethnic diversity changed in Scotland?". Dynamics of Diversity: Evidence From The 2011 Census (PDF). Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. p. 4. We have combined White Gypsy/Traveller and White Polish with Other White, and Arab with Other, for better comparability with 2001.
19. "Poles 'most economically active ethnic group' in Scotland". BBC. 26 March 2015. The report found that those who identified themselves as "White: Polish" were the most likely to work full-time as an employee (56%) and were also the most likely to be economically active (86%) ... "White: Polish", "Bangladeshi" and "African" households had the highest rates of overcrowding.
20. Kaveri Qureshi; Nasar Meer; Ben Kastan; Sarah Hill; Emma Hill (14 May 2020). "Submission of evidence on the disproportionate impact of Covid-10 on ethnic minorities in Scotland". Global Health Policy Unit. p. 5. Ethnic minorities in Scotland are concentrated in the lowest paid occupations, particularly the White Polish group (with 35% employed in elementary occupations)
21. "Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion". General Register Office for Scotland. 2011. Together, minority ethnic groups and white non-British groups (which include 'White: Irish', 'White: Polish', 'White: Gypsy/ Traveller' and 'White: Other white') made up 8% of the total population ... In 2011, most (93%) people in Scotland aged 3 and over reported that they used only English at home. Scots and Polish (each 1%) and Gaelic (0.5%) were the most common languages other than English reported as being used at home.
22. Scotland's Census 2011. "Table DC2201SC - Ethnic group by religion" (Spreadsheet). National Records of Scotland. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
23. Ellie Forbes; Tara Fitzpatrick (6 July 2020). "Racist abuse including 'monkey' and 'slave' slurs reported by former pupils of Scots school". Daily Record. Students from Asian, Black and White-Polish communities give accounts of being subjected to racial stereotypes
24. "Equality, Poverty and Social Security" (PDF). Government of Scotland.
25. Mirjam Allik; Denise Brown; Ruth Dundas; Alastair H Leyland (July 2019). "Differences in ill health and in socioeconomic inequalities in health by ethnic groups: a cross-sectional study using 2011 Scottish census". Ethnicity & Health. Taylor & Francis. pp. 1–19. The results show that the White Scottish population tend to have worse health and higher socioeconomic inequalities in health than many other ethnic groups, while White Polish and Chinese people tend to have better health and low socioeconomic inequalities in health.
26. "Analysis of deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, by ethnic group" (PDF). National Records of Scotland. 8 July 2020. p. 3.