List of tables, figures and boxes v Acknowledgements vi 1 Introduction Contemporary debates of migration and race What is segregation? The role of statistics Abuse of statistics in times of uncertainty The role of legends and myths Clarifying important terms Finding your way around the book 2 Making sense of race statistics Introduction 24 Politics, policy and race statistics The measurement and interpretation of 'ethnic group': policy concepts in statistical practice Conclusion 3 Challenging the myth that 'Britain takes too many immigrants'

Subsequent to riots in UK northern cities, claims of self-segregation and polarised communities are examined with data unique to the city of Bradford and first results from the UK population census. Statistics relating to race often reinforce misleading stereotypes that are unhelpful to the development of appropriate social policy. Previous studies of indices of segregation are shown to be inadequate through lack of consideration of change over time and the confounding of population change with migration. The separation of natural change and migration supports survey evidence that dispersal of South Asian populations has taken place at the same time as absolute and relative growth. Social policy will do well to take on board these demographic facts in a positive inclusive approach to all residents in all areas.

Internal migration is responsible for the changing geography of Britain's ethnic group populations. Although this changing geography is at the centre of heated debates of social policy, relatively little is known about the internal migration behaviour of different ethnic groups. This paper reviews existing evidence and analyses 1991 and 2001 Census data to provide an overview of patterns and trends in the geographies of migration for each ethnic group. It finds that counter‐urbanisation is common to all ethnic groups except Chinese. Both White and minority groups have on balance moved from the most non‐White areas in similar proportions, with some exceptions including White movement into the most concentrated Black areas, and Chinese movement towards its own urban concentrations. ‘White flight’ is not an appropriate term to describe White movement, nor to explain the growth of ethnically diverse urban areas. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effect of immigration on social cohesion is a political issue, expressed as a fear that racially skewed residential patterns represent ghettos which prevent integration. Residential patterns have been measured by indices of segregation. The range of indices is reviewed in the paper and measured empirically for England and Wales by using census data for 1991 and 2001, including a new index of migration dispersal. There has been an increase in residential mixing as a result of growing minority populations and their more even spread across localities. These two trends are identified by two commonly used indices of segregation which are moving in opposite directions for the most recent immigrant groups. The sensitivity of each index to modifiable area boundaries makes them unsuitable for evaluation of cities' relative performance. The residential patterns of cities after immigration are more clearly understood by using demographic measures of migration and age structure. Copyright 2007 Royal Statistical Society.

Relatively little is known about the internal migration behaviour of different ethnic groups. This paper reviews existing evidence, and analyses 2001 Census data for Britain to provide an overview of patterns in the level of migration and the distance migrated, according to the characteristics of migrants and for diverse ethnic groups. Those who migrate in each ethnic group have similar characteristics, leading to the assertion that differences in levels of migration result mainly from differing socio‐economic and age compositions of ethnic groups. This is confirmed through regression analysis. Differences in distance migrated, however, are not explained by the composition of ethnic groups, but may be explained by their primarily urban current areas of residence. Exceptions to the general patterns are highlighted as avenues for further investigation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.