Challenging Assumptions. Ethnic diversity is increasing: does this mean the UK is becoming more segregated?

The UK population has never been more ethnically diverse. According to the most recent Census, around one in five people living in England and Wales identified with an ethnic group other than White British, up from 13% of the population the decade before. This growth of ethnic diversity has gone hand-in-hand with policy, political and public assumptions about segregation: that greater ethnic diversity equates with higher levels of ethnic segregation, and that racialised minorities do not want to integrate. This article explores, and ultimately challenges, these assumptions.