What is the most common national identity around the UK?

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Recently the results of the 2021 UK census were released. One of the interesting datasets, is national identity.

Not surprisingly, there is a strong difference between the countries in the UK. Most people in Wales identify as Welsh and most people in Scotland identify as Scottish.

Since the last census, Brexit happened. Which is probably the main reason for the major shift in England from English being the main identity in 2011, to British becoming the main identity in 2021. Compared to the 2011 census, it has also become a bit easier form people to enter multiple identities. Although it’s unclear how much that has affected the results. In 2011, it was only London, Leicester and parts of Northern Ireland where British was the most common national identity. Now British is the most common national identity in all of England.

In Wales, there have been no major changes in the share of people that identify as Welsh. In Northern Ireland, we do see some changes. Irish has become the most common national identity in more areas. In the areas in which British is the most common identity, the share of people that identify as British has slightly declined. Brexit might have played a role here as well.

Interestingly, the share of people that identifies as Scottish in Scotland, has dropped by a few percent in almost every area. Although Scotland is more pro-EU than England, Brexit hasn’t made the Scots feel more Scottish. If anything, it has made some Scots feel more British. Despite all that, in most of Scotland, more than 80% of people identify as Scottish. Scots still feel far more Scottish than the Welsh identify as Welsh and the English identify as English or British.

Apart from the earlier mentioned national identities, people could also pick Cornish and/or Northern Irish as a national identity. Although Irish and British are clearly the most common national identities in Northern Ireland, Northern Irish interestingly ends up being the second most common national identity in almost every area in Northern Ireland.

The only areas where more 0.5% of people identify as Cornish, is Cornwall (15.6%) and the Isles of Scilly (6.0%). Even in these areas, people identify more as British and English.