The ethnic options of ‘mixed race’ people in Britain: Full Research Report

The ‘mixed race’ population has increased significantly in size over the last ten to fifteen years, due mainly to the growing number of inter-ethnic unions but also the acceptability of declaring mixed race identities. Over 670,000 people chose to identify with the newly included ‘Mixed’ categories in the 2001 UK Censuses and the group is now one of the fastest growing. The census

enumeration of the group has led to substantial research interest in its demography and how its membership identifies in ethnic/racial terms. However, at the time of the application, relatively little research had focused on how ‘mixed race’ people perceived their range of identity options and how they made decisions about these options. Even less was known about how the experiences of disparate kinds of ‘mixed’ people might vary, especially in relation to these identity choices they perceive and make.