British Indians: The Most Accomplished Group in the UK
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The Indian diaspora has a long-standing presence in the UK, and recent studies highlight their noteworthy accomplishments. According to these reports, British Indians have emerged as the most successful ethnic group in the country. They have even outpaced other demographics like the White British population and become the most prosperous community.
British Indians are the largest ethnic minority group in the UK, with 43% of the Indian population born there, while 38% arrived before 1981. The ranking is based on numerous key indicators, such as the proportion of people working in various professions, their hourly wages, homeownership rates, and the degree of employment or self-employment.
Collectively, these factors underline the significant contributions and achievements of British Indians in the UK.
The report, A Portrait of Modern Britain, highlights that 71% of British Indians own their homes and are least likely to reside in socially rented housing. In addition, Indians maintain more friendships outside of their ethnic group than any other minority group. This also demonstrates their high level of social integration. They rank second in terms of education attainment, just behind the Chinese.
The report draws on data from the 2021 UK Census and other statistical sources, along with Redfield and Wiltons polling (global polling and strategic consulting firm). This includes a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people from different ethnic origins.This also includes 1,400 respondents from ethnic minorities200 from each of the Black African, Black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Mixed-Race communities in “booster” samples.
The survey also indicates political change in Britain. Highly educated individuals from groups like Indian Hindus are shifting to the right, while white graduates are leaning left.
The report further draws attention to the fact that new generations of migrants maintain stronger ties to their home countries due to travel and digital communication innovations. The report also criticized the Hindu and Sikh manifestos during the last general election for encouraging “openly communal electoral politics.”
Additionally, the report reveals that ethnic minority groups have less in common with one another making terminology like Asian, South Asian, and BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) obsolete and insufficient.
The report also alleged that the Pakistani-Bangladeshi communities have the least number of migrants working in professional roles and the lowest hourly wages. On the other side, Arabs and Bangladeshi are likely to be economically inactive communities.
Categories such as South Asians do not only serve to mask noteworthy economic and social disparities between Britains Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis but also mean that very real forms of diversity within these sizeable groupings at times go unrecognized
Despite the noted differences among ethnic groups, the report found that all ethnic minorities indicated pride in being British. Many chose to live in the UK over the US, Germany, or France.
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