White British pupils have dropped below 60 per cent of the school population in England for the first time on record, according to new data published by the Department for Education, with minority ethnic children now accounting for nearly four in ten pupils across the country.
The 2025/26 Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics census, covering nearly nine million pupils, shows white British children at 59.7 per cent — down from approximately 70 per cent a decade ago — while minority ethnic pupils have reached a record high of 38.7 per cent, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous year.
The shift is most dramatic in urban areas. White British pupils are now a minority in primary schools across all 32 London boroughs, and in cities such as Birmingham they account for just 24.1 per cent of the school population. In Leicester, the figure stands at 19.4 per cent — a city where more than half of all pupils, 56 per cent, also speak a language other than English as their first language. Nationally, 21.6 per cent of pupils are non-English first language speakers. Approximately one in four schools in England now has a white British minority, with 72 schools recording no white British pupils at all and a further 454 having fewer than two per cent.
Political scientist Matt Goodwin, who has written extensively on demographic change in Britain, described schools as “a glimpse of tomorrow’s nation,” noting that they capture the youngest cohorts and therefore serve as a leading indicator of broader population shifts that have not yet fully registered in overall census figures. The 2021 census recorded white British people as approximately 74 per cent of England and Wales, but the school-age population is significantly more diverse owing to sustained high net migration since the 1990s and differential birth rates between communities.
The data reflects trends that have been consistent and predictable from prior census releases. Analysts point to high net immigration over several decades alongside higher average fertility rates among some non-white British groups, combined with white British fertility rates that have remained below replacement level for years. The pattern is not uniform across the country — rural areas and parts of northern England remain predominantly white British — but the direction of travel in urban centres has been consistent for many years.
The figures are prompting fresh debate about integration, English language provision, social cohesion and the pace of demographic change in England’s cities. Some commentators see the growing diversity of classrooms as an enriching development; others, including Goodwin and a range of policy analysts, argue that the speed and scale of the shift poses genuine challenges for communities, public services and national identity that have not been adequately addressed by government planning or public debate.
A Department for Education spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
