London: Britain will be the most ethnically mixed country in the western world in less than 40 years, experts predicted.

They claimed that the share of the population from an ethnic minority or migrant background will hit 38 per cent — overtaking other nations in around 2050.

And the study said Britain will become the most mixed country in Europe in around five years when the minority and migrant proportion of the population overtakes the same group in the Netherlands.

The analysis, prepared by Professor David Coleman of Oxford University for the Migration Observatory think-tank, is a fresh indicator of the impact of large-scale migration on life in Britain.

Professor Coleman, an expert in demography — the study of how populations change, endorsed a projection he made two years ago suggesting that at current migration rates white British people will be a minority in the population by about 2066, in just over 50 years.

In his new paper, he said these projections may prove to be too high if the Coalition keeps its pledge to reduce net migration — the difference between those arriving in the country and those people leaving.

“The highest migration projections for the UK put the crossover for the whole country, when the combined population of all ethnic minority groups together would exceed the population of white British, at around 2070, although it would have occurred in younger age groups and major urban areas rather earlier than that,” Professor Coleman said.

“But 57 years is a long time. That is looking far into the future and only illustrates the consequences of things remaining as they were in 2010. It assumes, for example, no enduring effect of the current Coalition Government’s attempts to reduce net immigration.”

The projections of which countries are likely to have the most ethnically mixed populations says that Britain will become more mixed than the United States shortly after 2050.

However, the American estimates count black Americans descended from slaves and native Americans as one with the white American population, and regard only more recent arrivals as migrants or members of ethnic minority groups.

The study predicted that Britain will have a higher migrant and ethnic minority population than that of Canada when the minority share hits 28 per cent in about 20 years.

Professor Coleman said: ‘By about 2010, people with immigrant origins — that is first or second-generation foreign origin — comprised between 10 and 20 per cent of the population in many western European countries.

“These projections indicate that populations of post-war immigrant origin will comprise between 20 and 40 per cent of national population totals by the middle of the 21st century if recent migration trends persist.”

According to the British national census in 2011, Leicester, Luton and Slough have populations where the majority of people are either foreign or ethnic minority members.

Birmingham is likely to become another so-called ‘minority majority’ city by 2020.

— Daily Mail