Do you get more ‘English’ as you get older?
Do you get more ‘English’ as you get older?
The figure is particularly low in London, where only one in three (31%) would describe themselves as English, and at variance with the other English regions that have relatively higher levels of identification as English.
The age difference is perhaps the most striking. In the UK as a whole, the age group least likely to describe themselves as British were the 70 and overs; 45% think of themselves as English instead of British (46%). The number describing themselves as British is higher amongst younger age groups, with a majority (53%) of those under 50 describing themselves as British, and less than one in three (29%) identifying as English.
England also seems to have a far lower self-identification than the other constituent countries of the UK. 53% in Wales think of themselves as Welsh while two thirds (64%) in Scotland think of themselves as Scottish. However, Northern Ireland was lower, with only two in five (40%) describing themselves in Northern Irish, although this did not automatically translate into a higher identification as British (at only 36%).
London and Northern Ireland also had the highest self-identification with other nationalities. One in eight (13%) in Northern Ireland thought of themselves as Irish, while the same number in London identified themselves as being from a multitude of backgrounds from outside the UK.
Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 2,002 UK adults. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria. The research was conducted from 1st to 4th October 2013.
