White Gypsy or Irish Traveller

White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller is an ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller population was 63,193 or about 0.1 per cent of the total population of the country. The ethnicity category may encompass populace from the distinct ethnic groups of Romanichal Travellers or Irish Travellers, and their respective related subgroupings, who identify as, or are perceived to be, white people in the United Kingdom.

This article is about one of the white ethnicity classifications used in the United Kingdom census. For the broad racial group, see white people in the United Kingdom. For Irish Travellers, regardless of skin colour, living in Britain, Ireland and North America, see Irish Travellers.

White Gypsy or Irish Traveller
Population pyramid of White: Gypsy or Irish Travellers in 2021
Total population
United Kingdom United Kingdom: 63,193 – 0.1% (2011)[1]
England England: 64,205 – 0.1% (2021)[2]
Scotland Scotland: 4,212 – 0.08% (2011)[1]
Wales Wales: 3,552 – 0.1% (2021)[2]
Northern Ireland: 2,609 – 0.1% (2021)[note 1][3]
Languages
Angloromani · British English · Hiberno-English · Shelta
Beurla Reagaird · Irish · Welsh Romani
Religion
Predominantly Christianity
Note
  1. (including 'White' people, as defined by NISRA, in the 'Irish Traveller' ethnic group)

Within Britain, England and Wales statistics (which make up around 95 per cent of the UK's census data) designate the category as the article describes.[4] The Scottish census lists the category, in a slightly different form, as 'White: Gypsy/Traveller'.

In Northern Ireland, where only the term 'White' is used in ethnic classification, 'Irish Traveller' is listed as a separate "ethnic group" to 'White'. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, however, does treat 'Irish Traveller' as a subgroup of 'White' in census data analysis.[5]

Census classifications

Along with 'Arab', the category of 'White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller' was introduced at the 2011 census.[6]

Population and distribution

The National Institute for Health Research estimated that there were 54,895 people in the "White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller" group in England, although this was clarified as a likely underestimation.[7] The Welsh Government has identified 2,785 of the group living in Wales.[8] In England and Wales together, this has been recorded at 57,680.[9]

In 2006, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, there were between 300,000 and 400,000 estimated to be in the 'White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller' grouping, which is around, at least, 250,000 more than was recorded at the 2011 census.[9]

2011 census data in England and Wales showed that the highest population by local district proportion was in Basildon, Essex; Ashford, Kent; Maidstone, Kent; Swale, Kent; and Fenland, Cambridgeshire – in all of these forming 0.5% of the populations each. By county, Kent has the highest population, while by region, South East England (which is also where Kent is located within) has the highest. Other counties with significant populations are Surrey, Essex and Hampshire.[10] London has the second highest population by region, with 8,196 of the group born here. This is closely followed by the East of England, numbering 8,165.[11]

The Scottish Government has listed around 4,000 people living in Scotland of the "ethnic group" category of ‘White: Gypsy/Traveller’.[12] The specific number provided by the National Records of Scotland for the 2011 census was 4,200. The organisation also has suggested that this is a significant undercounting, with estimates of up to 20,000 of the group being resident in Scotland.[13] The highest density of the group were resident in the council areas: Perth & Kinross, Glasgow City and City of Edinburgh.[12]

Demographics

Religion
Religion England and Wales
2011[14] 2021[15]
Number % Number %
Christianity 37,001 64.1% 42,570 62.8%
No religion 13,109 22.7% 19,054 28.1%
Islam 378 0.7% 455 0.7%
Buddhism 421 0.7% 342 0.5%
Judaism 247 0.4% 181 0.3%
Hinduism 102 0.2% 89 0.1%
Sikhism 96 0.2% 85 0.1%
Other religions 798 1.4% 705 1.0%
Not Stated 5,528 9.6% 4,286 6.3%
Total 57,680 100% 67,767 100%

Social and health issues

Health

According to a 2013 Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity study, the 2011 census showed that the White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller group suffered from poor health. Both men and women from the group had twice the rates of long-term and limiting illnesses as White British people.[16]

Housing

Two thirds of the group were estimated to be living in permanent housing in the UK.[9] The White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller group was found to be the most likely to experience overcrowding in households in the 2011 census.[17]

Other

In the 2014/2015 school year in Scotland, the exclusion rates of pupils from the 'White: Gypsy / Traveller' category were 75 in 1000, compared with 29 in every 1000 of pupils from the White Scottish grouping.[18] According to the Welsh Government, the "White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group" provided the highest proportions of unpaid care per capita in both England and Wales.[8]

See also

References
  1. "2011 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in the United Kingdom". Office for National Statistics. 11 October 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  2. "2021 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in the United Kingdom". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  3. "MS-B01: Ethnic group". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  4. "2011 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  5. National Identity (Classification 1) by Ethnic Group DC2206NI (administrative geographies), Accessed 13 June 2014
  6. "Quality Improvement Plan: government ethnicity data". UK Government. 17 April 2020. The ONS introduced 2 further categories to the Census in 2011: White – Gypsy or Irish Traveller; Arab
  7. Jackson C; Dyson L; Bedford H (September 2016). "Health Technology Assessment, No. 20.72.". Understanding uptake of Immunisations in Travelling and Gypsy communities (UNITING): a qualitative interview study. pp. 1–176. doi:10.3310/hta20720. PMC 5056337. PMID 27686875. There are an estimated 54,895 'white: Gypsy or Irish Traveller'12 and 193,297 'migrant Roma' living in England. ... All of these are likely to be underestimations because of the poor recording of Traveller ethnicity on public service systems, a reluctance to self-identify attributed to the history of persecution and rapidly changing inward migration. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
  8. "Travelling to Better Health: Policy Implementation Guidancefor Healthcare Practitioners onworking effectively with Gypsies and Travellers" (PDF). Welsh Government. July 2015. pp. 20–22. The Census 2011 included an ethnicity category for 'White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller' for the first time. The data suggests that a total population of 2,785 Gypsies and Travellers live in Wales. ... White Gypsies or Irish Travellers had the lowest proportion of any ethnic groups rating their general health as 'good'or 'very good' at 70% compared to 81% of the overall population of England and Wales. ... In addition, the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group was among the highest providers of unpaid care in England and Wales at 11% (10% for England and Wales as a whole)
  9. Juliet McCaffery (2014). "Identities, Roles and Iterative Processes: methodological reflections from research on literacy among Gypsies and Travellers". Research in Comparative and International Education. Vol. 9. SAGE Publications. p. 337. In the single category 'white Gypsy or Irish Traveller', only 57,680 were identified, though current estimates are between 300,000 and 400,000, of whom approximately two thirds live in houses (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2006).
  10. National Identity (Classification 1) by Ethnic Group DC2206NI (administrative geographies), Accessed 13 June 2020
  11. Louise Ryan; Alessio D’Angelo; Michael Puniskis; Neil Kaye (July 2014). "Analysis of 2011 Census Data: Irish Community Statistics, England and Selected Urban Areas" (PDF). Social Policy Research Centre: Irish in Britain. p. 10. The ethnic category 'White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller' is ranked eighteenth, making up 0.1% of the population, or around 8,000 persons in the region.
  12. "Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland - A Comprehensive Analysis of the 2011 Census". Scottish Government. 15 December 2015. Just over 4,000 people in Scotland identified in the census that their ethnic group was 'White: Gypsy/Traveller' and this represented 0.1 per cent of the population. ... Chart 1 shows that the council areas with the most Gypsy/Travellers resident on census day were Perth & Kinross, Glasgow City and the City of Edinburgh.
  13. "Gypsy/Travellers". Scottish Government. In the census, 4,200 people identified themselves as 'White: Gypsy/Traveller' (it is likely that some chose not to). Organisations that work with Gypsy/Travellers believe Scotland's community comprises 15,000 to 20,000 people.
  14. United Kingdom census (2011). "Table DC2201EW - Ethnic group and religion". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 14 January 2016. Size: 21 Kb.
  15. "Ethnic group by religion - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  16. Laia Bécares (October 2013). "Which ethnic groups have the poorest health? Ethnic health inequalities 1991 to 2011". Dynamics of Diversity: Evidence From the 2011 Census (PDF). Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity: Joseph Rowntree Foundation. p. 1. The White Gypsy or Irish Traveller group, identified for the first time in the 2011 Census, has particularly poor health. Both men and women have twice the White British rates of limiting long-term illness, and at each age they are the group most likely to be ill.
  17. "Research on Gypsies and Travellers in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames" (PDF). Richmond Council. June 2016. p. 9. The 2011 Census data also provides information on household overcrowding and under-occupation for different ethnic groups in England and Wales, which suggests that in the White Gypsy or Irish Traveller there were higher proportions of households considered to be overcrowded (with a bedroom occupancy rating of -1 or less, having fewer bedrooms than the notional number recommended by the bedroom standard) than in other ethnic groups.
  18. Geetha Marcus (2019). "'I am Not Big, Fat or Just Gypsy'". Gypsy and Traveller Girls: Silence, Agency and Power. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 167. ISBN 978-3030037024. In the 2014/2015, the rate of exclusion per 1000 pupuls was 29 for White Scottish pupils, but an increase to 75 for White Gypsy/Traveller pupils.
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