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Latest
figures on the population of Britain show how the market for dining
out is likely to change in coming years as the country ages and
becomes more ethnically diverse.
The
last full census was in 2001 when Britain had a population of just
over 58 million. This was made up as follows :-
|
Millions |
% |
|
White |
54.15 |
92.1 |
|
Mixed |
0.68 |
1.2 |
|
Indian |
1.05 |
1.8 |
|
Pakistani |
0.75 |
1.3 |
|
Bangladeshi |
0.28 |
0.5 |
|
Other Asian |
0.25 |
0.4 |
|
Black Caribbean |
0.56 |
1.0 |
|
Black African |
0.48 |
0.8 |
|
Other |
0.09 |
0.2 |
|
Chinese |
0.25 |
0.4 |
|
Other |
0.23 |
0.4 |
Minority
ethnic sector made up 7.9% of the British population but in the past
6 years things have changed. By 2006 to population figure was 60.6
million and 55% of this growth was from legal immigration. The annual
growth rate from 1971 was 0.26 % per annum but since 2001 this has
almost doubled to 0.5% per annum. This means of the 2 million growth
in population since 2001 over 1 million were legal immigrants.
In
2006 the top country for immigrants was India followed by Ireland,
Poland, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, USA, Jamaica, Nigeria and China.
The
rapid influx of people from Poland has already seen a sudden spurt
of Polish restaurants. 34% of these were in the 16-44 age group
compared with Indians for whom 46% were in the 25-64 age group.
The
white population of Britain is aging as the 'baby-boomer' factor
moves through and the continued change in the make up of Britain's
population means that restaurants are going to continually have to
change and adapt to get the best from the changing market.
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