ABSTRACT
Over the centuries, Britain has received and absorbed large numbers of people from other countries and many Britons went abroad to the colonies as rulers, administrators, soldiers, business people, etc., to represent the Empire. But it is only in the last forty years that Britain has received in significant numbers from the former colonies workers and their dependants whose colour differs from that of the indigenous population. The main sources of this immigration are the New Commonwealth countries (including Pakistan) of the Indian subcontinent and the West Indies. The estimated present-day number of ethnic minorities is about 5 per cent of the total population of 54 million. Of these, almost 50 per cent are now British born. Thus, half of the ethnic minority population is not ‘immigrant’ but native born British and most of the others now have British nationality.
