2011 Census: Ethnicity - Country of birth, Language and Religion
Country of birth
When considering country of birth, 84.6% of Sandwell residents were born in the United Kingdom or Ireland, compared with 87.3% nationally. One in eight Sandwell residents were born in a country outside the European Union. Only 1.5% of Sandwell's residents have lived in the United Kingdom for less than 2 years and a further 2.3% have lived in the UK for between 2 and 5 years.
Over 95% of Sandwell's White residents were born in the United Kingdom or Ireland, whilst 3.6% were born in EU Accession countries (which joined the EU between April 2001 and March 2011).
Detailed country of birth data can be downloaded here for Sandwell wards.
![](https://www.sandwelltrends.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/06/Census_Eth_2011CoB.png)
Language
The 2011 Census collected information for the first time on main language and English language skills. It should be noted that people who did not report English as a main language may be fluent English speakers.
In Sandwell overall, 64.5% of residents whose main language is not English, can speak English well or very well. Only a very small proportion of residents cannot speak English at all (0.8% of all residents aged 3 & over).
88% of Sandwell residents speak English as their main language, compared to 92.3% nationally. This proportion varies by ward, and in five wards less than 80% of residents speak English as their main language.
7.4% of Sandwell residents speak a South Asian language as their main language. Over a quarter of St. Pauls residents speak a South Asian language overall.
8.7% of residents in West Bromwich Central speak another European Union language. In particular, 7.1% of residents speak Polish as their main language.
More data on languages spoken by ward can be downloaded here, and detailed data for Sandwell is also available.
![](https://www.sandwelltrends.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/06/Census_Eth_2011Language.png)
Religion
In terms of religion, 55.2% of Sandwell residents are Christian, lower than the national average of 59.3%. This has fallen considerably since 2001, when 68.6% of Sandwell residents said they were Christian. Overall, 18.7% said they are not affiliated with any religion.
Detailed data on religion by ethnicity by ward can be downloaded here.
![](https://www.sandwelltrends.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/06/Census_Eth_2011Religion.png)
![](https://www.sandwelltrends.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/06/Census_2011Source.png)