Socioeconomic status
Published
Contents
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to Socio-economic groups by ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to Ethnic groups by socio-economic status section
- 5. Navigate to Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of men section
- 6. Navigate to Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of women section
- 7. Navigate toData sources section
- 8. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- according to the 2021 Census, White people made up 72.7% of the ‘never worked and long-term unemployed’ socioeconomic group (the lowest socioeconomic group), and 81.7% of the general population
- Asian people made up 15.8% of the ‘never worked and long-term unemployed’ group, and 9.3% of the general population
- Black people made up 5.1% of the ‘never worked and long-term unemployed’ group, and 4.0% of the general population
- 20.1% of people from the Indian ethnic group were in ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’ (the highest socioeconomic group) – the highest percentage out of all 19 ethnic groups
- in every ethnic group, a higher percentage of men than women were in ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’
- in most ethnic groups, a higher percentage of women than men were in the ‘never worked or long-term unemployed’ group
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the population of England and Wales by ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
A person’s socioeconomic status is based on the type of work they do, or what they used to do if they are retired.
Census data includes people in around 25 million private households. It also includes communal establishments, such as care homes and university halls of residence.
All percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Read more about the 2011 Census.
Not included in the data
The data does not include households that did not answer the Census question about ethnicity.
97% of people completed the 2021 Census.
The data has been adjusted to take into account people and households who were not counted or counted incorrectly.
The ethnic groups used in the data
The data uses the standardised list of 19 ethnic groups used in the 2021 Census.
The main changes to the 2021 Census compared with the 2011 Census were:
- the ‘Roma’ group was added under the ‘White’ ethnic group
- a write-in response was added for the ‘Black African’ ethnic group
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
In this data, there are separate categories for full-time students and people who are either long term unemployed or have never worked. This follows National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) classification ’10a’.
3. Socio-economic groups by ethnicity
| Population and socio-economic groups | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | |
| Population | 9.3 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 81.7 | 2.1 |
| Higher managerial and professional | 9.2 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 84.5 | 1.8 |
| Lower managerial and professional | 6.7 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 86.7 | 1.3 |
| Intermediate occupations | 6.6 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 87.4 | 1.2 |
| Small employers and own account workers | 7.9 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 86.0 | 2.1 |
| Lower supervisory and technical | 5.8 | 2.6 | 1.5 | 88.6 | 1.6 |
| Semi-routine occupations | 7.2 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 85.5 | 1.5 |
| Routine occupations | 6.9 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 86.0 | 2.0 |
| Never worked or long-term unemployed | 15.8 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 72.7 | 4.3 |
| Full-time students | 16.0 | 8.1 | 4.9 | 67.4 | 3.6 |
Download table data for ‘Socio-economic groups by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Socio-economic groups by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Socioeconomic status Socio-economic groups by ethnicity Summary
Population data shows that:
- as at the 2021 Census, the largest ethnic group was the White group (81.7% of the population), followed by Asian (9.3%), Black (4.0%), Mixed (2.9%) and Other (2.1%) ethnic groups
Data on socioeconomic groups shows that:
- out of all socioeconomic groups, the largest percentages of White people were found in ‘lower supervisory and technical’ (88.6%), ‘intermediate occupations’ (87.4%) and ‘lower managerial and professional occupations’ (86.7%)
- the smallest percentages of Black people were found in ‘small employers and own account workers’ (2.5%), ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’ (2.6%) and ‘lower supervisory and technical’ groups (2.6%)
- the smallest percentages of people from the Asian ethnic group were found in ‘lower supervisory and technical’ (5.8%)
- Asian people made up 15.8% of the ‘never worked and long-term unemployed’ group and 16.0% of full-time students
- Black people made up 8.1% of full-time students
4. Ethnic groups by socio-economic status
| Socioeconomic groups | Higher managerial and professional | Lower managerial and professional | Intermediate occupations | Small employers and own account workers | Lower supervisory and technical | Semi-routine occupations | Routine occupations | Never worked or long-term unemployed | Full-time students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 13.1 | 19.9 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 5.4 | 11.4 | 12.1 | 8.5 | 7.7 |
| Asian | 13.9 | 15.4 | 8.8 | 9.6 | 3.6 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 15.5 | 14.2 |
| Bangladeshi | 6.6 | 11.3 | 8.9 | 8.7 | 5.0 | 10.3 | 9.4 | 22.9 | 16.9 |
| Chinese | 19.3 | 15.3 | 6.2 | 9.6 | 5.8 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 8.4 | 23.6 |
| Indian | 20.1 | 18.8 | 9.7 | 8.2 | 3.0 | 8.4 | 10.5 | 10.4 | 11.0 |
| Pakistani | 8.8 | 11.3 | 8.8 | 12.2 | 2.6 | 9.8 | 9.2 | 22.7 | 14.6 |
| Asian other | 10.8 | 17.1 | 8.2 | 9.3 | 4.3 | 12.3 | 10.4 | 14.2 | 13.4 |
| Black | 9.0 | 18.1 | 9.6 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 12.7 | 11.4 | 11.7 | 16.7 |
| Black African | 9.4 | 17.2 | 7.7 | 7.0 | 3.1 | 12.7 | 10.8 | 11.6 | 20.4 |
| Black Caribbean | 8.5 | 20.1 | 13.0 | 7.4 | 5.0 | 13.0 | 12.8 | 11.6 | 8.6 |
| Black other | 7.7 | 17.4 | 10.8 | 6.6 | 4.0 | 11.5 | 10.5 | 12.6 | 18.9 |
| Mixed | 12.8 | 18.8 | 9.8 | 7.9 | 3.9 | 9.5 | 9.6 | 8.9 | 18.9 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 17.1 | 20.3 | 9.5 | 7.0 | 3.2 | 7.4 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 22.3 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 10.6 | 16.7 | 8.8 | 7.8 | 4.1 | 9.9 | 11.1 | 9.8 | 21.1 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 8.0 | 16.9 | 10.7 | 7.7 | 4.7 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 11.1 | 16.8 |
| Mixed other | 15.2 | 20.2 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 3.8 | 8.4 | 9.1 | 8.0 | 17.1 |
| White | 13.2 | 20.6 | 11.9 | 10.9 | 5.7 | 11.6 | 12.4 | 7.4 | 6.2 |
| White British | 13.0 | 20.9 | 12.3 | 10.6 | 5.7 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 7.6 | 6.0 |
| White Irish | 18.2 | 25.6 | 9.9 | 10.9 | 4.3 | 8.9 | 10.0 | 7.6 | 4.4 |
| Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 2.5 | 7.8 | 3.6 | 17.8 | 4.0 | 8.5 | 16.7 | 32.8 | 6.2 |
| Roma | 7.3 | 11.4 | 4.5 | 16.7 | 9.0 | 7.7 | 24.3 | 10.3 | 8.9 |
| White other | 15.7 | 17.5 | 7.7 | 13.9 | 5.6 | 8.4 | 17.4 | 4.8 | 9.0 |
| Other | 11.6 | 13.3 | 6.8 | 11.3 | 4.2 | 8.4 | 12.3 | 18.5 | 13.8 |
| Arab | 13.7 | 10.9 | 5.3 | 8.0 | 3.1 | 6.1 | 7.1 | 24.5 | 21.3 |
| Other ethnic background | 10.9 | 14.0 | 7.3 | 12.3 | 4.6 | 9.1 | 13.9 | 16.5 | 11.3 |
Download table data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status’ (CSV)
Summary of Socioeconomic status Ethnic groups by socio-economic status Summary
The data shows that:
- 20.1% of people from the Indian ethnic group were in the ‘higher managerial and professional’ occupations – 18.8% were in ‘lower managerial and professional occupations’
- out of all ethnic groups, people from the White Irish group (25.6%) were most likely to be in ‘lower managerial and professional occupations’, followed by White British (20.9%) and Mixed White and Asian (20.3%) people
- 32.8% of people from the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group were ‘long term unemployed or never worked’ – the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups, followed by the Arab (24.5%), Bangladeshi (22.9%) and Pakistani (22.7%) ethnic groups
- the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group also had the highest percentage of ‘small employers and own account workers’ out of all ethnic groups (17.8%)
- 23.6% of people from the Chinese ethnic group were full-time students, the highest percentage out of all ethnic groups, followed by the Mixed White and Asian (22.3%) and Arab (21.3%) ethnic groups
5. Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of men
| Ethnicity | Higher managerial and professional | Lower managerial and professional | Intermediate occupations | Small employers and own account workers | Lower supervisory and technical | Semi-routine occupations | Routine occupations | Never worked or long-term unemployed | Full-time students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 16.7 | 17.8 | 6.2 | 14.8 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 13.9 | 7.3 | 7.5 |
| Asian | 17.0 | 14.3 | 6.0 | 14.7 | 5.6 | 8.4 | 11.0 | 8.5 | 14.7 |
| Bangladeshi | 8.5 | 11.9 | 6.4 | 15.1 | 8.9 | 10.0 | 12.6 | 9.7 | 16.9 |
| Chinese | 21.5 | 13.2 | 3.6 | 11.5 | 9.9 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 25.4 |
| Indian | 24.6 | 17.0 | 6.2 | 11.5 | 4.3 | 7.1 | 11.1 | 6.4 | 11.8 |
| Pakistani | 11.4 | 11.5 | 6.0 | 20.5 | 4.2 | 9.2 | 12.2 | 10.5 | 14.5 |
| Asian other | 12.9 | 15.1 | 6.2 | 13.7 | 6.3 | 10.8 | 10.9 | 9.7 | 14.4 |
| Black | 10.6 | 14.5 | 6.8 | 10.6 | 5.5 | 10.4 | 14.1 | 11.0 | 16.5 |
| Black African | 11.7 | 14.5 | 6.1 | 10.4 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 12.5 | 9.5 | 20.2 |
| Black Caribbean | 9.1 | 14.9 | 7.9 | 11.5 | 7.6 | 10.5 | 17.5 | 13.2 | 7.8 |
| Black other | 8.1 | 13.6 | 7.4 | 9.2 | 5.6 | 9.6 | 13.9 | 13.9 | 18.7 |
| Mixed | 14.4 | 16.3 | 6.5 | 10.4 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 11.6 | 9.4 | 18.5 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 19.4 | 17.9 | 6.5 | 8.9 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 7.9 | 7.1 | 21.8 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 12.1 | 14.6 | 6.0 | 10.5 | 6.0 | 7.8 | 12.9 | 9.6 | 20.6 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 8.9 | 14.3 | 6.8 | 11.2 | 6.8 | 8.7 | 14.9 | 12.4 | 16.1 |
| Mixed other | 17.0 | 17.8 | 6.3 | 11.0 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 10.7 | 8.0 | 17.1 |
| White | 17.1 | 18.5 | 6.2 | 15.0 | 8.6 | 7.5 | 14.3 | 6.8 | 5.9 |
| White British | 17.0 | 18.8 | 6.4 | 14.7 | 8.7 | 7.6 | 13.9 | 7.1 | 5.8 |
| White Irish | 22.1 | 21.5 | 5.2 | 16.7 | 6.3 | 6.0 | 10.8 | 6.9 | 4.4 |
| Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 3.2 | 8.0 | 2.2 | 26.6 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 16.2 | 26.3 | 6.4 |
| Roma | 8.2 | 10.7 | 3.0 | 21.7 | 11.6 | 6.1 | 23.3 | 7.0 | 8.2 |
| White other | 17.8 | 14.7 | 4.0 | 19.1 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 18.8 | 3.4 | 8.5 |
| Other | 13.8 | 12.4 | 4.3 | 16.2 | 6.2 | 7.2 | 13.3 | 13.0 | 13.6 |
| Arab | 17.0 | 10.8 | 3.6 | 11.9 | 4.8 | 6.0 | 9.4 | 15.9 | 20.5 |
| Other ethnic background | 12.7 | 13.0 | 4.6 | 17.6 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 14.6 | 11.9 | 11.2 |
Download table data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of men’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of men’ (CSV)
Summary of Socioeconomic status Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of men Summary
The data for men and women shows that:
- in every ethnic group, a higher percentage of men than women were in ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’ (the highest socioeconomic group)
- the biggest difference was in the Indian group, where 24.6% of men and 15.6% of women were in this socioeconomic group
- in every ethnic group, men were more likely than women to be in the ‘small employers and own account workers’ and ‘lower supervisory and technical’ occupations’ groups
- in most ethnic groups, a higher percentage of women than men were in the ‘never worked or long-term unemployed’ socio-economic group, with the biggest difference among Bangladeshi (26.3 percentage points) and Pakistani (24.4 percentage points) ethnic groups
- in every ethnic group, women were more likely than men to be in ‘intermediate occupations’
The data for men shows that:
- men from the Indian ethnic group (24.6%) were the most likely to be in ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’ out of all ethnic groups – men from the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller group (3.2%) were the least likely to be
- men from the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group (26.3%) were the most likely to be in the ‘never worked or long term unemployed’ group out of all ethnic groups – men from the White Other group (3.4%) were the least likely to be
- men from the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group (26.6%) were most likely to be in the ‘small employers and own account workers’ group – Mixed White and Asian men (8.9%) were least likely to be
6. Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of women
| Ethnicity | Higher managerial and professional | Lower managerial and professional | Intermediate occupations | Small employers and own account workers | Lower supervisory and technical | Semi-routine occupations | Routine occupations | Never worked or long-term unemployed | Full-time students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 9.7 | 21.9 | 16.3 | 6.6 | 2.8 | 14.8 | 10.3 | 9.6 | 7.9 |
| Asian | 10.9 | 16.4 | 11.4 | 4.9 | 1.8 | 10.5 | 8.3 | 22.1 | 13.7 |
| Bangladeshi | 4.7 | 10.7 | 11.4 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 10.7 | 6.2 | 36.0 | 16.9 |
| Chinese | 17.6 | 16.9 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 2.7 | 7.3 | 7.0 | 9.9 | 22.2 |
| Indian | 15.6 | 20.6 | 13.1 | 5.0 | 1.7 | 9.7 | 9.8 | 14.3 | 10.2 |
| Pakistani | 6.2 | 11.1 | 11.5 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 10.3 | 6.2 | 34.9 | 14.8 |
| Asian other | 8.9 | 18.8 | 9.9 | 5.6 | 2.7 | 13.6 | 9.9 | 18.0 | 12.5 |
| Black | 7.6 | 21.2 | 12.0 | 4.1 | 2.2 | 14.7 | 9.0 | 12.3 | 17.0 |
| Black African | 7.5 | 19.5 | 9.1 | 4.1 | 1.8 | 14.7 | 9.3 | 13.4 | 20.6 |
| Black Caribbean | 8.0 | 24.4 | 17.1 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 15.1 | 9.0 | 10.2 | 9.2 |
| Black other | 7.4 | 21.1 | 14.1 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 13.3 | 7.3 | 11.3 | 19.1 |
| Mixed | 11.4 | 21.0 | 12.8 | 5.5 | 2.3 | 11.5 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 19.2 |
| Mixed White and Asian | 14.9 | 22.6 | 12.2 | 5.3 | 1.8 | 8.9 | 5.1 | 6.4 | 22.8 |
| Mixed White and Black African | 9.3 | 18.7 | 11.3 | 5.3 | 2.4 | 11.9 | 9.6 | 9.9 | 21.6 |
| Mixed White and Black Caribbean | 7.2 | 19.3 | 14.3 | 4.6 | 2.8 | 15.0 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 17.3 |
| Mixed other | 13.7 | 22.3 | 12.3 | 6.7 | 2.3 | 10.0 | 7.6 | 7.9 | 17.1 |
| White | 9.6 | 22.7 | 17.3 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 15.5 | 10.7 | 7.9 | 6.4 |
| White British | 9.2 | 22.9 | 18.0 | 6.7 | 2.9 | 16.0 | 10.1 | 8.0 | 6.2 |
| White Irish | 14.7 | 29.4 | 14.2 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 11.5 | 9.3 | 8.3 | 4.5 |
| Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 1.9 | 7.7 | 5.0 | 9.3 | 2.5 | 11.5 | 17.2 | 39.1 | 5.9 |
| Roma | 6.0 | 12.2 | 6.4 | 10.2 | 5.7 | 9.8 | 25.6 | 14.4 | 9.8 |
| White other | 13.9 | 19.9 | 10.9 | 9.4 | 4.0 | 10.2 | 16.3 | 6.0 | 9.4 |
| Other | 9.3 | 14.2 | 9.3 | 6.2 | 2.1 | 9.6 | 11.2 | 24.1 | 13.9 |
| Arab | 9.9 | 11.1 | 7.2 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 6.2 | 4.5 | 34.4 | 22.2 |
| Other ethnic background | 9.1 | 15.1 | 9.9 | 7.1 | 2.4 | 10.6 | 13.3 | 21.0 | 11.5 |
Download table data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of women’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of women’ (CSV)
Summary of Socioeconomic status Ethnic groups by socio-economic status of women Summary
The data for women shows that:
- women from the Chinese ethnic group (17.6%) were the most likely to be in ‘higher managerial and professional occupations’ out of all ethnic groups – women from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller group (1.9%) were the least likely to be
- women from the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller group (39.1%) were the most likely to be in the ‘never worked or long term unemployed’ group out of all ethnic groups – women from the White Other group (6.0%) were the least likely to be
- women from the White Irish ethnic group (29.4%) were the most likely to be in ‘lower managerial and professional occupations’ – women from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group (7.7%) were the least likely to be
7. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Office for National Statistics
Publication frequency
Every 10 years
Purpose of data source
The Census takes place every 10 years. Census data gives the government the information it needs to plan and run public services. It is also used as a benchmark for other statistical estimates, and can help illustrate differences between various groups in the population.
8. Download the data
Population and England and Wales by socioeconomic group and ethnicity
- Spreadsheet
(csv)
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This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, nssec, geography, geography_code, sex, value, value_type, numerator, denominator, source, time