Which London boroughs have the highest and lowest proportions of non‑white residents according to the 2021 census?

1. The high end — Newham, Brent and Redbridge lead London’s ‘majority‑minority’ boroughs

The 2021 census data and subsequent reporting identify Newham as London’s most diverse borough, with roughly 69.2% of residents identifying as non‑white, followed by Brent (around 65.4%) and Redbridge (around 65.2%) — figures highlighted in press summaries of ONS releases ^[1]. These boroughs are repeatedly singled out in multiple analyses as having the highest combined proportions of Black, Asian, Mixed and Other ethnic groups, and Newham in particular is named outright as the council area with the greatest share of non‑white residents ^{[2] [4]}.

2. The low end — Richmond, Bromley and Havering are the least ethnically mixed on the capital map

Analysts using Census 2021 show a clear tail of boroughs with much smaller non‑white populations: Richmond upon Thames registers about 19.5% non‑white, Bromley about 23.5% and Havering about 24.7% — the three lowest borough-level shares reported in Trust for London and other city summaries ^{[2] [3]}. These outer‑London boroughs are portrayed in the same reporting as less diverse and, in some cases, less deprived than many inner‑city areas, a pattern that commentators draw attention to when discussing spatial inequality across the capital ^[2].

3. How many boroughs are majority non‑white and which others feature above 60%

Census‑based city briefings note that ten of London’s 33 boroughs had non‑white majorities in 2021, with boroughs above the 60% mark including Brent, Redbridge, Harrow, Tower Hamlets and Newham, and additional boroughs such as Ealing, Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Hillingdon and Croydon joining the majority‑minority list in 2021 analyses ^{[4] [2]}. The ONS and city data releases underline that more boroughs became majority non‑white between 2011 and 2021, reflecting both demographic change and suburban shifts noted by local analysts ^{[4] [5]}.

4. Methodology, definitions and sources — what ‘non‑white’ means here and where the numbers come from

The figures cited are drawn from Census 2021 ethnicity tables and interpretations by city analysts and NGOs using the ONS outputs; press reporting cites ONS summaries for borough percentages ^{[1] [6]}. ‘Non‑white’ in the used summaries is an aggregate shorthand for residents identifying in any Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic groups as recorded by the census; exact categories in Census tables are more granular and respondents can self‑identify across many groups ^{[6] [2]}. Where city reports list borough rankings or percentage points, they are typically re‑expressing ONS commissioned tables and London Datastore tools rather than generating new survey estimates ^{[7] [4]}.

5. Context, caveats and reading between the lines

The headline borough percentages mask large intra‑borough variation — many London boroughs contain wards and neighbourhoods with very different ethnic mixes — and analysts caution that growth of particular groups has been spatially concentrated (for example, Bangladeshi populations clustered in east London) and that some outer‑London areas have seen rapid increases in non‑white populations over the decade ^{[2] [5]}. Reporting organizations have agendas: local NGOs frame the data around deprivation and service planning (Trust for London), academic work stresses identity and migration dynamics, and some media coverage foregrounds the “majority‑minority” angle to signal political and cultural change ^{[2] [8] [1]}. The primary census tables and the London Datastore are available for those who need ward‑level or category‑by‑category breakdowns; this analysis is limited to borough‑level summary figures as presented in those sources ^{[6] [7]}.