According to the 1991 census there were 148,771 Chinese in England and Wales. With a total of 164,667 in Britain as a whole - the Chinese community made up 0.3 percent of the population. The highest population lived in central London - 27,549 or almost 20 percent of the total Chinese population in England - and outer London (29,227 or 20.7 percent). However in comparison with all ethnic groups, the Chinese community is widely dispersed both within London and across Britain.  According to the 1991 census there were 148,771 Chinese in England and Wales. | | Our Untold Stories |
At the time of the census, the largest group among the Chinese in this country was aged between 20 and 44. Numbers in the older age groups were well below that for the white population, particularly for those of pensionable age. Almost one in three of the Chinese population (29.2 percent) were born in the UK. However nearly all of the older people were born outside the UK - with half coming from Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China the most common other place of origin (11.6 percent). Most of the remainder came from other Commonwealth countries in south-east Asia, and Vietnam (6.2 percent). While there is a high degree of participation in full time education among the younger Chinese, only 25 percent of the first generation Chinese had education beyond primary school level. »Chinese stories index | 
