Estimating ethnic change in London, 1981-91, using a variety of census data.

Abstract

"This paper provides estimates of ethnic minority populations in 1981 in Greater London so that spatial population change can be measured. The estimation method involves the application of conditional probabilities of ethnicity given the country of birth. Several different data sources from the census of population have been used to compute the conditional probabilities. Each of these sources has deficiencies; the new method proposed here employs data on 1981-91 survivors in the ONS Longitudinal Study (LS). The estimated ethnic minority populations for 1981 are smaller than those generated using 1991 Census data, and hence the estimate of change is larger. Careful pairwise comparisons are made between alternative estimates. A set of very different maps of change, based on the LS method, are presented and interpreted for the ethnic groups of London at the borough scale."