A "multicultural society" is one consisting of people from a diverse variety of national, linguistic, religious and cultural backgrounds. More than four million non-white Britons live in England, making it one of the most ethnically complex countries in Europe. .
Almost half of this number live in London and almost 300 different languages are spoke in all of the capital's schools. Two areas of London have become the first in the UK to have a non-white majority - Newham and Brent. Races are mainly of Indian, Pakistani, Afro-Caribbean and Chinese origin. .
The recently published 2001 Census shows that England is becoming a more complex and divers society, needing plans and structures to be able to cope with new demands on many new issues.
Over half of those of Afro-American and Pakistani origin were born in England, with those of Bangladeshi and Indian origin coming close. In the Chinese group only about 30 percent were born in England, with almost seventy percent were born in the Far East. What can be said of the ethnic minority groups as a whole is that they tend to be considerably younger than the population at large - the average age of whites is 37, that of Afro-Caribbean being 33, Indians 31 and Bangladeshis 18.
By many measure is the Afro-Caribbean group the most "integrated", with the highest number of inter-racial marriages that is interestingly eight times higher than in the United states. Afro-Caribbean women are also doing well in terms of employment and income although a third of the children comes from a single-parent family. British Indians are, on average, better off than white Britons, but there is a high inequality within the group, particularly among women. Worst off are people of Pakistan and Bangladeshi origin who score badly in all respects of social exclusion and are the most likely to be unemployed, living in overcrowded conditions and having a lower of fluency in English than other ethnic groups.
