Scottish Asians

Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland.[1] Their parents or grandparents are normally Asian immigrants. It can also refer to people who are of dual Scottish and Asian ancestry. It combines Asian ethnic background with Scottish national identity.

In traditional British usage, the term Asian did not normally include East Asians, who were referred by their respective national origins (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Malaysians and others) or collectively as "Oriental", which similar to Scotch can be viewed of as pejorative when applied to people.[2] By contrast, in traditional North American usage the term Asian did not normally include South Asians but focused on East and Southeast Asians, particularly Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. These frames of reference reflect different migration patterns.

Census

The 2001 and 2011 censuses recorded the following ethnic groups:

Ethnic Group 2001[3] 2011[4]
Number % Number %
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian 15,037 0.30% 32,706 0.62%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani 31,793 0.63% 49,381 0.93%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi 1,981 0.04% 3,788 0.07%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese 16,310 0.32% 33,706 0.64%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other 6,196 0.12% 21,097 0.40%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total 71,317 1.41% 140,678 2.66%
Total Population in Scotland 5,062,011 100.00% 5,295,403 100.00%

In addition to ethnicity, the 2011 census asked about national identity.[5]

  • 34 per cent of all minority ethnic groups felt they had some Scottish identity either on its own or in combination with another identity. This ranged from 60 per cent for people from a mixed background and 50 per cent for those from a Pakistani ethnic group, to 21 per cent for those from an African ethnic group. This compared to 83 per cent for all people in Scotland.[5]
  • 62 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish identity only’ as their national identity, of which 98 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[5]
  • 18 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish and British identity only’ as their national identity, of which 97 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.[5]
  • 8 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘British identity only’. Of these, 49 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’, 38 per cent were ‘White: Other British’, and 8 per cent were ‘Asian’.[5]
  • 4 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘Other identity only’ (i.e. no UK identity), 32 per cent of those were ‘White: Other White’, 22 per cent were ‘Asian’ and 21 per cent were ‘White: Polish’.[5]

South Asian communities
Map of Glasgow, coloured according to % of residents stated as Asian in the 2011 UK Census.
Historical Asian-Scottish population
YearPop.±%
199132,000—    
200149,000+53.1%
201186,000+75.5%
2021—    
Source:
  • Figures based on respective censuses[6][7]

Scotland's South Asian population of more than 80,000 is mostly from Indian and Pakistani background. The majority are adherents of the Hindu, Sikh and Islamic faiths and are concentrated around urban areas, such as Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. However, there are Asian communities in places as small as Stornoway and as far north as Aberdeen.[8]

Notable Scottish Asians

Arts and entertainment

Business

Politics

Sport

Other
  • Roza Salih, activist
  • Mohammed Atif Siddique, convicted of terrorism offences
  • Mamta Singhal, winner of the Women Engineering Society Prize - Young Women Engineer of the Year 2007; finalist for Global MBA student of the Year 2008

See also

References
  1. "Scotland's New Official Ethnicity Classification" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  2. "'Oriental': Rugs, Not People". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2018-04-23.
  3. "Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report - gov.scot". www.gov.scot. Archived from the original on 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  4. "Scotland's Census". www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  5. "Census 2011: Detailed characteristics on Ethnicity, Identity, Language and Religion in Scotland – Release 3A". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2018-04-24. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 Archived 2017-06-28 at the Wayback Machine. © Crown copyright.
  6. Ansari, Humayun (14 April 2019). The Infidel Within: Muslims in Britain Since 1800. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 9781850656852. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2020 – via Google Books.
  7. "2011 Census: Key Results from Releases 2A to 2D". Scotland's Census. Archived from the original on 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  8. "Stornoway's not racist, say Asians". The Times. 8 October 2006. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  9. "First Asian MSP goes to Holyrood". 4 May 2007. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
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