Wales Population by Race 2026 | Statistics & Facts

Wales’ Population by Ethnic Group in 2026

Wales remains the least ethnically diverse nation within England and Wales, but the 2021 Census shows that diversity, while still comparatively modest, is growing steadily across nearly every measure the Welsh Government and Office for National Statistics track. With a population living in private households of 3.13 million as of mid-2024, Wales has seen its White population share edge down from 95.6% to 93.8% over the past decade, while every other ethnic category recorded growth, however small, across the same period.

This article covers the full range of population-by-race and ethnic group statistics for Wales in 2026, drawing on official Welsh Government and ONS Census 2021 data to break down the national picture, regional variation between North and South Wales, national identity, religion, and language diversity. Every figure below reflects the most current officially published data available for Wales specifically.

Interesting Facts About Wales Population by Race 2026

Source: Welsh Government, Office for National Statistics, Census 2021

Wales’ ethnic composition in 2026 rests on a population that remains overwhelmingly White, at 93.8%, but the direction of travel across every measured group points toward gradually increasing diversity. Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British residents make up 2.9% of the population, now 89,000 people, while those identifying with Mixed or multiple ethnic groups reached 1.6%, or 49,000 people, both continuing to climb from their 2011 levels of 2.3% and 1.0% respectively.

Beyond ethnicity narrowly defined, Wales’ broader diversity picture shows similar movement. 46.5% of the population now reports no religion, up sharply from 32.1% a decade earlier, while the Muslim population grew to 67,000 people, 2.2% of Wales, from 1.5% in 2011. At the same time, 57.5% of residents identify their sole national identity as Welsh, a figure that varies considerably by local authority and reflects a distinct layer of identity that exists alongside, and sometimes independently of, the ethnicity data collected by the census.

1. Total Population and Ethnic Composition of Wales 2026

Ethnic Group Share, Wales (2021 Census)
White  |████████████████████████████████████████    93.8%
Asian  |█                                            2.9%
Mixed  |█                                            1.6%
Other  |█                                            1.7%

Source: Welsh Government, Census 2021

On Census Day, 21 March 2021, 2.9 million usual residents in Wales identified within the high-level White ethnic group category, 93.8% of the population, a decrease from 95.6% recorded in the 2011 Census. The second-largest high-level category was Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British, with 89,000 people, 2.9% of the population, followed by Mixed or multiple ethnic groups at 49,000 people, 1.6%, with the remaining categories, including Black African, Caribbean or Black British and Other ethnic group, making up the balance. Within the White category specifically, 90.6% of Wales’ overall population identified more narrowly as “White: Welsh, English, Scottish, Northern Irish or British,” the standard tick-box option most residents select, with the remaining White respondents identifying as White Irish, White Roma, or White Other, a category that includes long-established Polish and other European communities across the country.

Wales’ ethnic composition remains notably less diverse than England’s or the England-and-Wales combined average, where the equivalent White share sits at 81.7%. That gap is explained largely by Wales’ more limited history of large-scale post-war immigration compared with England’s major cities, alongside a population that remains more rural and dispersed across smaller towns rather than concentrated in the kind of large, economically diverse metropolitan centres that have historically drawn the bulk of the UK’s immigrant population. Wales’ total population, including those living in communal establishments such as care homes and university halls, stood at just over 3.2 million at the time of the 2021 Census, with the private-household population specifically reaching 3.13 million by the more recent mid-2024 estimate.

2. The Decline of the White Category in Wales Since 2011

White Ethnic Group Share, Wales
2011 |█████████████████████████████████████████  95.6%
2021 |███████████████████████████████████████    93.8%

Source: Welsh Government, Census 2011 and 2021

The 1.8 percentage point decline in Wales’ White population share between 2011 and 2021 is modest compared with the equivalent shift recorded across England and Wales as a whole, where the White British category alone fell by 6.1 points over the same decade. That comparatively gentler pace of change reflects Wales’ historically lower rates of both international migration and internal migration from other, more diverse parts of the UK, though the direction of the trend mirrors the broader England-and-Wales pattern closely. The Welsh Government notes that this slower pace of demographic change is consistent with Wales’ economic profile over the past two decades, which has offered fewer of the large-scale employment opportunities in finance, technology, and international business that have historically drawn diverse migration into England’s biggest cities.

Every non-White high-level ethnic category in Wales grew between the two census periods, with Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British and Mixed or multiple ethnic groups both rising by 0.6 percentage points. The Welsh Government’s own analysis of the 2021 results notes that this growth, while smaller in absolute terms than in England, represents a continuation of a trend visible across all three of the census periods for which ethnicity data exists in Wales, from 1991 through 2021. Looking within the Asian category specifically, Indian and Pakistani communities remain the largest and most established sub-groups, many with roots in Wales stretching back several generations, while more recently arrived Chinese and other East Asian communities have grown substantially around Wales’ university towns and cities.

3. Regional Ethnic Diversity Within Wales 2026

White Population Share by Area
Anglesey (highest)       |████████████████████████████████████████  98.1%
Wales average            |█████████████████████████████████████     93.8%
Wrexham (North Wales low)|███████████████████████████████████       96.0%

Source: Welsh Government, North Wales Collaborative

North Wales as a whole is notably less ethnically diverse than the Welsh average, with 96.8% of its 665,147 residents identifying as White in the 2021 Census, compared with 93.8% across Wales overall. Within North Wales, Anglesey recorded the highest White population share at 98.1%, while Wrexham recorded the lowest at 96.0%, still considerably above both the Welsh and England-and-Wales averages. The Asian, Asian Welsh or Asian British category made up just 1.4% of North Wales’ population, compared with 2.9% across Wales as a whole and 9.3% across England and Wales combined.

Cardiff, by contrast, stands out as Wales’ most ethnically and religiously diverse local authority by a clear margin. Census data shows Cardiff recording the highest concentrations in Wales of residents identifying as Muslim (9.3%), Hindu (1.5%), and Sikh (0.4%), reflecting its role as Wales’ capital and largest city, with the deepest and most established immigrant communities, university population, and international connections of any Welsh local authority. This urban-rural divide within Wales broadly mirrors the pattern seen across England, where diversity concentrates disproportionately in a small number of larger cities.

4. National and Welsh Identity in Wales 2026

Sole National Identity, Wales
Welsh only        |███████████████████████████████████████████████  57.5%
British only      |█████████████                                    16.9%
English only      |█████████                                        11.2%

Source: Office for National Statistics, Census 2011/2021

National identity in Wales operates as a distinct layer of data alongside ethnicity, and the census shows 57.5% of residents identifying their sole national identity as Welsh, with a further 7.1% identifying as both Welsh and British. 16.9% identified solely as British with no Welsh component, and 11.2% identified solely as English, reflecting the sizeable population of English-born residents living in Wales, a group that made up around 20% of the Welsh population at the 2001 Census and has remained a significant demographic presence since. Analysis of the census data by Manchester University’s Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity found that identification patterns also vary meaningfully by ethnic background within Wales, with the Welsh-Caribbean population recording the highest likelihood of any group of choosing “Welsh only” as their sole identity, at 59%.

This identity split varies enormously by local authority. Merthyr Tydfil recorded the highest proportion of residents identifying as “Welsh only” at 70.0%, followed closely by Rhondda Cynon Taf at 69.8% and Caerphilly at 69.2%, all valleys communities with deep, multi-generational Welsh roots. Flintshire, in north-east Wales bordering England, recorded the lowest share at just 34.7%, a pattern researchers attribute to its geographic proximity to England and correspondingly higher rates of cross-border migration and commuting. Notably, the proportion of people identifying with a “Welsh only” identity fell between 2011 and 2021 in most local authorities, even as every local authority simultaneously saw an increase in the share identifying as both “Welsh and British,” suggesting a broad shift toward dual rather than singular national identity across Wales as a whole.

5. Religion and Belief in Wales by Diversity 2026

Religious Affiliation Change, Wales
No religion        |█████████████████████████████████████████████  46.5% (2021)
No religion (2011) |████████████████████████                       32.1%

Source: Welsh Government, Census 2021

The most dramatic shift in Wales’ 2021 Census results by far came in religious affiliation, with those reporting “no religion” rising from 32.1% to 46.5% of the population in a single decade, an increase of over 14 percentage points, among the steepest secularisation trends recorded anywhere in the UK. The proportion identifying as Christian fell in every single Welsh local authority between 2011 and 2021, and the three local authorities across the whole of England and Wales with the steepest declines in Christian identification, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, and Merthyr Tydfil, were all located in Wales, a striking finding given these same valleys communities historically formed the heartland of Welsh Nonconformist Christianity.

Set against that steep secularisation trend, Wales’ Muslim population grew from 1.5% to 2.2% of the population, reaching 67,000 people, making it the largest non-Christian religious group in Wales by a clear margin, with Cardiff home to by far the highest concentration nationally. Other religious groups, including Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jewish communities, recorded comparatively little change in their overall population share between 2011 and 2021, according to Welsh Government analysis, meaning the “no religion” surge has come disproportionately at the expense of Christian identification rather than reflecting substantial growth in non-Christian religious diversity. Response rates to the voluntary religion question also improved slightly, with 93.7% of residents answering in 2021 compared with 92.4% in 2011.

6. Language Diversity in Wales 2026

Main Language Spoken, Wales (age 3+)
English or Welsh    |█████████████████████████████████████████████  96.7%
Polish              |█  0.7%
Arabic              |█  0.3%

Source: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021

Language diversity in Wales remains comparatively limited, with 96.7% of usual residents aged three and over speaking English or Welsh as their main language, a slight decrease from 97.1% in 2011. Among the 78,000 residents who did not select English or Welsh as a main language, 78% reported being able to speak English well or very well, while 22%, around 22,000 people, reported not speaking English very well or at all, a group concentrated disproportionately in Wales’ more urban local authorities.

Polish remains, as it was in 2011, the most common main language in Wales after English and Welsh, spoken by 0.7% of the population, a legacy of the significant wave of Polish migration to Wales following the 2004 EU enlargement. Arabic followed as the next most common language at 0.3%, and British Sign Language was the preferred language of 900 residents. As in 2011, Wales’ more urban local authorities, including Cardiff, Newport, Wrexham, and Swansea, recorded the lowest proportions of residents speaking English or Welsh as a main language, consistent with these areas’ greater overall ethnic and linguistic diversity.

7. Age Structure and Diversity Patterns Across Wales 2026

Population Aged 85 and Over
North Wales        |████████████████  3.0%
Wales overall      |██████████████    2.7%
England & Wales    |████████████      2.4%

Source: Welsh Government, Census 2021

Wales’ age structure skews notably older than the England-and-Wales average, a pattern most pronounced in North Wales, where 20,600 residents were aged 85 and over in 2021, 3.0% of the population, up from 18,350 in 2011 and 15,600 in 2001. That compares with 2.7% across Wales as a whole and 2.4% across England and Wales combined, reflecting North Wales’ particular popularity as a retirement destination for people relocating from England alongside its comparatively lower levels of inward migration by working-age adults from overseas.

At the younger end of the age spectrum, Wales also trails the England-and-Wales average, with 16.5% of the population aged under 15 compared with 17.4% across England and Wales, and a working-age population share of 56.5% aged 20 to 64, below the 58.4% combined average. This older, less working-age-heavy population structure is closely linked to Wales’ lower rates of the kind of international migration, disproportionately made up of younger adults, that has driven both greater ethnic diversity and a younger age profile in England’s larger cities. Census data also shows that eight local authorities in Wales, including Gwynedd, Anglesey, and Conwy County Borough, recorded lower populations in 2021 than in 2011, with a further five seeing growth of less than 1%, underlining how unevenly Wales’ modest population growth has been distributed across the country.

8. Households and Population Growth in Wales 2026

Population in Private Households, Wales
Mid-2023 |████████████████████████████████████████  3.11 million
Mid-2024 |█████████████████████████████████████████  3.13 million

Source: Welsh Government, Statistics Wales Demography Newsletter, March 2026

Wales’ population living in private households reached 3.13 million by mid-2024, an increase of 18,900 people, or 0.6%, from mid-2023, according to the Welsh Government’s latest demography newsletter published in March 2026. Over the same period, the estimated number of households climbed to 1.39 million, up 10,200, or 0.7%, driven largely by growth in one-person and two-person households without children, a trend consistent with Wales’ ageing population profile and smaller average household sizes documented elsewhere in the same release.

Average household size in Wales has fallen steadily and substantially over the past three decades, from 2.52 persons in mid-1991 to just 2.25 by mid-2024, reflecting long-term social trends toward smaller families, later marriage, and more people living alone, particularly among the growing elderly population. Looking ahead, the ONS has confirmed plans for a Census Test in 2027, with Cardiff and Monmouthshire selected as the Welsh test areas ahead of the next full Census, scheduled for 2031, which will provide the next comprehensive update to all of the ethnic, national identity, and language data referenced throughout this report.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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