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Writing and speaking about ethnicity

This page describes our preferred style for writing about ethnicity which aligns with the government guidance on this issue. This was last updated in December 2021.

This covers how we write about ethnicity, including words and phrases we use and avoid, and how we describe ethnic minorities and different ethnic groups.

BAME, BME

We do not use the terms BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) or BME (black and minority ethnic). Different people have different experiences – these phrases do not take this in to account and are very unpopular among people from these communities.

Ethnicity

We refer to ethnicity and not race because surveys usually ask people for their ethnicity and not their race. And using consistent terms helps people to understand our data.

Under-represented

We use ‘under-represented’ to refer to all ethnic groups except the white British group. Under-represented include white minorities, such as Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller groups.

Phrasing

In research, ‘People from a black Caribbean background’, ‘the black ethnic group’ and ‘black people’ are all acceptable phrases. ‘Blacks’ is not. ‘Coloured’ is also not an acceptable phrase.

Similarly ‘people from a white British background’, ‘the white ethnic group’ and ‘white people’ are all acceptable.

We do not say ‘mixed people’ or ‘mixed race people’. We usually say ‘people with a mixed ethnic background’ or ‘people from the mixed ethnic group’, or ‘dual heritage.’

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller ethnic groups

‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ is one of the standardised ethnic groups. We differentiate between Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller communities if data is collected separately. We do not use slashes (/) in commentary as this can imply these terms are the same. Instead we refer to:

  • ‘the white Gypsy and Roma ethnic group’ or ‘white Gypsy and Roma people’
  • ‘the white Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic group’ or ‘white Gypsy and Irish Traveller people’

For example: 29 per cent of white Gypsy and Roma pupils met the expected standard in reading, compared with 31 per cent of white Irish Traveller pupils.

Ordering and Style

Capitalisation

We do not capitalise ethnic groups such as ‘black’ or ‘white’ unless that group’s name includes a geographic place (for example, ‘Asian’, ‘Indian’, ‘black Caribbean’ or ‘White British’).

Order of ethnic categories

Ethnic groups are ordered alphabetically in charts and tables, with ‘other’, and occasionally ‘unknown’, as a final category.

In user research, some people were offended when white was placed first in a list of ethnic groups, while others did not like inconsistent ordering.

Ethnicities and nationalities

These ethnic groups are also nationalities:

  • Bangladeshi
  • Chinese
  • Indian
  • Pakistani

If there’s a risk of users mistaking ethnicities for nationalities, we avoid ambiguity by writing:

  • ‘people from the Indian ethnic group’, not ‘Indian people’
  • ‘pupils from the Chinese ethnic group’, not ‘Chinese pupils’

Groupings

Our preferred style is to write about ethnic or ethnic minority ‘groups and people from ethnic minority ‘backgrounds’. We do not use the term ethnic minority ‘communities’.