# Demographics of Coventry

Coventry, England is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. It is the fifteenth most populous city in the United Kingdom.

## Population

Coventry's total population, according to the 2011 UK census, was 316,960. The population density was 3,408 people per square km.

## Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses in Coventry.
There was likely around 3,000 to 5,000 'coloured' people in Coventry in 1958, half of these being Asians (2,000 Indians and 1,500 Pakistanis) and 400 Afro-Caribbeans.
Coventry has declined from a 88.1% White overall city to one with less than two-thirds of its population. Asian British people have risen from around 1 in 10 (9.7%) to around nearly 1 in 5 (18.5). Black British people have experienced an explosive growth, coming primarily from the increasing African population, they have risen from 1.6% to 8.9% from 1991 to 2021. The Mixed and Other ethnicities have also increased as well.
| Ethnic Group | 1971 estimations | 1971 estimations | 1981 estimations | 1981 estimations | 1991 census | 1991 census | 2001 census | 2001 census | 2011 census | 2011 census | 2021 census | 2021 census |
| Ethnic Group | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
| White: Total | 310,281 | 94% | 292,411 | 90.9% | 268,853 | 88% | 252,643 | 83.98% | 234,029 | 73.84% | 226,246 | 65.5% |
| White: British | – | – | – | – | – | – | 235,632 | 78.32% | 211,188 | 66.63% | 190,889 | 55.3% |
| White: Irish | – | – | – | – | 13,540 | 4.59% | 10,401 | 3.46% | 7,305 | 2.30% | 5,662 | 1.6% |
| White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 151 | 0.05% | 294 | 0.1% |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,116 | 0.3% |
| White: Other | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6,610 | 2.20% | 15,385 | 4.85% | 28,285 | 8.2% |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | – | 23,576 | 7.3% | 30,010 | 9.8% | 36,093 | 12.00% | 51,598 | 16.28% | 63,915 | 18.5% |
| Asian or Asian British: Indian | – | – | 18,489 | 5.7% | 22,825 | 7.5% | 24,177 | 8.04% | 27,751 | 8.76% | 32,096 | 9.3% |
| Asian or Asian British: Pakistani | – | – | 3,034 | 0.9% | 4,080 | | 6,169 | 2.05% | 9,510 | 3.00% | 12,658 | 3.7% |
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | – | – | 757 | | 1,271 | | 1,741 | 0.58% | 2,951 | 0.93% | 4,257 | 1.2% |
| Asian or Asian British: Chinese | – | – | 538 | | 806 | | 2,183 | 0.73% | 3,728 | 1.18% | 4,571 | 1.3% |
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | 758 | | 1,028 | | 1,823 | 0.61% | 7,658 | 2.42% | 10,333 | 3.0% |
| Black or Black British: Total | – | – | 4,310 | 1.4% | 5,060 | 1.7% | 5,412 | 1.80% | 17,764 | 5.60% | 30,723 | 8.9% |
| Black or Black British: African | – | – | 347 | 0.1% | 423 | | 1,679 | 0.56% | 12,836 | 4.05% | 24,109 | 7.0% |
| Black or Black British: Caribbean | – | – | 3,021 | | 3,457 | | 3,314 | 1.10% | 3,317 | 1.05% | 3,459 | 1.0% |
| Black or Black British: Other Black | – | – | 942 | | 1,180 | | 419 | 0.14% | 1,611 | 0.51% | 3,155 | 0.9% |
| Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5,163 | 1.72% | 8,230 | 2.60% | 11,731 | 3.4% |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,453 | 0.82% | 3,672 | 1.16% | 4,597 | 1.3% |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – | 271 | 0.09% | 943 | 0.30% | 1,663 | 0.5% |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,605 | 0.53% | 2,388 | 0.75% | 3,182 | 0.9% |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – | 834 | 0.28% | 1,227 | 0.39% | 2,289 | 0.7% |
| Other: Total | – | – | 1,345 | | 1,676 | | 1,537 | 0.51% | 5,339 | 1.68% | 12,706 | 3.7% |
| Other: Arab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,020 | 0.64% | 2,482 | 0.7% |
| Other: Any other ethnic group | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1,537 | 0.51% | 3,319 | 1.05% | 10,224 | 3.0% |
| Ethnic minority: Total | 19,968 | 6% | 29,231 | 9.1% | 36,746 | 12% | 48,205 | 16% | 82,931 | 26.2% | 119,075 | 34.5% |
| Total | 330,249 | 100% | 321,642 | 100% | 305,599 | 100% | 300,848 | 100% | 316,960 | 100% | 345,321 | 100% |
Notes for table above
* ↑ New category created for the 2011 census
* ↑ In 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.
* ↑ New category created for the 2011 census
* White
* White-British
* White-Irish
* White-Other
* Asian
* Asian-Indian
* Asian-Pakistani
* Asian-Bangladeshi
* Asian-Chinese
* Black
* Black-African
* Black-Caribbean
* Other-Arab
Ethnicity of school pupils
Coventry's schools are in a majority-minority state with no-overall ethnic majority present, however of broad multi-ethnic groups, Whites make up the majority with 54.3% of the population.
| Ethnic group | School year | School year | School year | School year |
| Ethnic group | 1971 | 1971 | 2021/2022 | 2021/2022 |
| Ethnic group | Number | % | Number | % |
| White: Total | – | 93% | 31,770 | 54.3 |
| White: British | – | – | 25,797 | 44.1 |
| White: Irish | – | – | 167 | 0.3 |
| White: Traveller of Irish heritage | – | – | 44 | 0.1 |
| White: Gypsy/Roma | – | – | 540 | 0.9 |
| White: Other | – | – | 5,222 | 8.9 |
| Asian / Asian British: Total | – | – | 12,780 | 22 |
| Asian / Asian British: Indian | – | – | 5,217 | 8.9 |
| Asian / Asian British: Pakistani | – | – | 3,072 | 5.3 |
| Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi | – | – | 1,027 | 1.8 |
| Asian / Asian British: Chinese | – | – | 264 | 0.5 |
| Asian / Asian British: Other Asians | – | – | 3,200 | 5.5 |
| Black / Black British: Total | – | – | 7,733 | 13.2 |
| Black: Caribbean | – | – | 340 | 0.6 |
| Black: African | – | – | 6,683 | 11.4 |
| Black: Other Blacks | – | – | 710 | 1.2 |
| Mixed / British Mixed | – | – | 4,330 | 7.4 |
| Other: Total | – | – | 1,257 | 2.1 |
| Unclassified | – | – | 626 | 1.1 |
| Non-White: Total | – | 7% | | 45.7% |
| Total: | – | | 58,496 | 100% |

## Languages

The most common main languages spoken in Coventry according to the 2011 census are shown below.
| Rank | Language | Usual residents aged 3+ | Proportion |
| 1 | English | 261,117 | 86.14% |
| 2 | Punjabi | 6,849 | 2.26% |
| 3 | Polish | 6,161 | 2.03% |
| 4 | Gujarati | 2,523 | 0.83% |
| 5 | Urdu | 2,479 | 0.82% |
| 6 | Arabic | 1,821 | 0.60% |
| 7 | Tamil | 1,445 | 0.48% |
| 8 | Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) | 1,391 | 0.46% |
| 9 | French | 1,340 | 0.44% |
| 10 | Persian | 925 | 0.31% |
| 11 | Kurdish | 895 | 0.30% |
| 12 | Romanian | 883 | 0.29% |
| 13 | Hindi | 784 | 0.26% |
| 14 | Somali | 746 | 0.25% |
| 15 | Latvian | 674 | 0.22% |
| 16 | Russian | 597 | 0.20% |
| 17 | Swahili/Kiswahili | 572 | 0.19% |
| 18 | Shona | 521 | 0.17% |
| 19 | Slovak | 497 | 0.16% |
| 20 | Malayalam | 465 | 0.15% |
| | Other | 10,445 | 3.45% |

## Country of birth

Coventry's population is 27.9% foreign born as of 2021.
| Country of birth | Year | Year |
| 2021 ||
| Country of birth | Number | % |
| United Kingdom | 248,990 | 72.1% |
| Foreign born | 96,333 | 27.9% |
| Total | 345,323 | 100% |

## Religion

The following table shows the religion of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 censuses in Coventry.
| Religion | 2001 | 2001 | 2011 | 2011 | 2021 | 2021 |
| Religion | Number | % | Number | % | Number | % |
| Christian | 196,346 | 65.26% | 170,090 | 53.66% | 151,577 | 43.9% |
| Buddhist | 784 | 0.26% | 1,067 | 0.34% | 1,257 | 0.4% |
| Hindu | 7,757 | 2.58% | 11,152 | 3.52% | 13,724 | 4.0% |
| Jewish | 222 | 0.07% | 210 | 0.07% | 259 | 0.1% |
| Muslim | 11,686 | 3.88% | 23,665 | 7.47% | 35,800 | 10.4% |
| Sikh | 13,960 | 4.64% | 15,912 | 5.02% | 17,297 | 5.0% |
| Other religion | 733 | 0.24% | 1,641 | 0.52% | 1,908 | 0.6% |
| No religion | 45,314 | 15.06% | 72,896 | 23.00% | 102,338 | 29.6% |
| Religion not stated | 24,046 | 7.99% | 20,327 | 6.41% | 21,166 | 6.1% |
| Total | 300,848 | 100.00% | 316,960 | 100.00% | 345,326 | 100% |
* Christianity
* Islam
* Judaism
* Hinduism
* Sikhism
* Buddhism
* Other religion
* No religion