Facts and figures
Health outcomes:
On average, black and ethnic minority communities experience worse health outcomes.
- Death rates from coronary heart disease among first generation South Asian adults are approximately 50% higher than the England and Wales average;
- The death rate from strokes among adults born in the Caribbean is more than 50% higher than the England and Wales average;
- Perinatal mortality among Pakistani born mothers is nearly twice the UK national average;
- Diagnoses of schizophrenia are up to six times higher among African-Caribbean groups that in the majority population;
- Women born in India and East Africa have a 40% higher suicide rate than those born in England and Wales;
- Around 90% of children in the general population have visited a dentist compared to approximately 40% of Bangladeshi and 60% of Pakistani children;
- Type 2 diabetes is up to six times more common in South Asian people and up to three times more common in African and African-Caribbean people;
- Gypsies & Travellers have a significantly poorer health status and more self-reported symptoms of ill health than the general UK population.
Employment:
Some 13% of the NHS workforce is from a black or minority ethnic community, although relatively few senior managers are from these communities.
Community cohesion:
Healthy, happy communities are ones where all citizens feel part of the mainstream. Public services are obliged under the amended Race Relations Act not just to promote race equality. They must also seek to improve relations between different ethnic groups and build cohesive communities.