Demographic research rarely dominates the headlines, but the comparison of the last two censuses has proved to be an exception. In this interview, Professor Eric Kaufmann, of Birkbeck’s Department of Politics, describes his analysis of the figures, which show that the proportion of white Britons in London’s population fell from 58% to 45% between 2001 and 2011. He explains that the decline is not the result of ‘white flight’, but the consequence of long-term demographic trends as white Britons are continuing to migrate out of London at historic rates and the ethnic minorities are not.

Professor Kaufmann also talks about how ethnic minorities combine multiple identities regarding their ethnicity and nationality, and recognises that there are multiple versions of the same national identity.