• As well as the introduction of NS-SEC, a new classification of ethnicity was introduced in 2001. This classification separately identifies people of mixed ethnic background, which means that is not comparable with the old classification. The GHS sample has always been too small to analyse single year data on ethnicity, and, until this year, data have been added across three years to produce large enough sample sizes for analysis. The change in classification means it is no longer possible to do this. Consequently, this report includes only the overall distribution in terms of the new ethnic classification* (see Appendix E).

Table 3.15 shows the ethnic distribution of the sample using the new classification.

• Eighty-nine percent of people described themselves as White British and 3% as 'Other White', a total of 92% who described themselves as White.

• Two percent described themselves as Indian and 3% as Pakistani, Bangladeshi or other Asian, giving a total of 4% of the sample describing themselves as Asian.

• Two percent gave their ethnic origin as Black, comprising 1% each as Caribbean and African, with a very small number describing themselves as of 'other Black' ethnic origin.

• One percent described themselves as of mixed race and 1% were from some other ethnic origin.

*The Labour Force Survey, with its considerably larger sample, is the recommended source for data on ethnic origin and nationality. A comparison of LFS and GHS distributions on these two variables is shown in Appendix E.