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Scottish Asians

Racial or ethnic group in Scotland with Asian ancestry

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
5 min read
Source updated August 9, 2026

Scottish Asian (Asian-Scottish or Asian-Scots) is a term defined within the 2011 Scottish census as including people of Bangladeshi, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani or other Asian ancestry resident in Scotland. Their parents or grandparents are normally Asian immigrants. It can also refer to people who are of dual Scottish and Asian ancestry. It combines Asian ethnic background with Scottish national identity.

In traditional British usage, the term Asian did not normally include East Asians, who were referred by their respective national origins (e.g. Chinese, Japanese and others) or collectively as "Oriental", which similar to Scotch can be viewed of as pejorative when applied to people. By contrast, in traditional North American usage the term Asian did not normally include South Asians but focused on East and Southeast Asians, particularly Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese. These frames of reference reflect different migration patterns.

01Demographics

Historical Population
YearPop.±%
199147,456,     
200171,317+50.3%
2011140,678+97.3%
2022 212,022+50.7%
Source: National Records of Scotland

The 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2022 censuses recorded the following ethnic groups:

Ethnic Group 1991 2001 2011 2022
Number % Number % Number % Number %
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Indian 10,050 0.20% 15,037 0.30% 32,706 0.62% 52,951 0.97%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Pakistani 21,192 0.42% 31,793 0.63% 49,381 0.93% 72,871 1.34%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Bangladeshi 1,134 0.02% 1,981 0.04% 3,788 0.07% 6,934 0.13%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Chinese 10,476 0.21% 16,310 0.32% 33,706 0.64% 47,075 0.87%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Asian Other 4,604 0.09% 6,196 0.12% 21,097 0.40% 32,187 0.59%
Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British: Total 47,456 0.95% 71,317 1.41% 140,678 2.66% 212,022 3.90%
Total Population in Scotland 4,998,567 100% 5,062,011 100% 5,295,403 100% 5,439,842 100%

2011 census

In addition to ethnicity, the 2011 census asked about national identity.

  • 34 per cent of all minority ethnic groups felt they had some Scottish identity either on its own or in combination with another identity. This ranged from 60 per cent for people from a mixed background and 50 per cent for those from a Pakistani ethnic group, to 21 per cent for those from an African ethnic group. This compared to 83 per cent for all people in Scotland.
  • 62 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish identity only’ as their national identity, of which 98 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.
  • 18 per cent of the total population stated ‘Scottish and British identity only’ as their national identity, of which 97 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’.
  • 8 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘British identity only’. Of these, 49 per cent stated their ethnicity as ‘White: Scottish’, 38 per cent were ‘White: Other British’, and 8 per cent were ‘Asian’.
  • 4 per cent of the total population stated their national identity as ‘Other identity only’ (i.e. no UK identity), 32 per cent of those were ‘White: Other White’, 22 per cent were ‘Asian’ and 21 per cent were ‘White: Polish’.
Map of Glasgow, coloured according to % of residents stated as Asian in the 2011 UK Census.
Map of Glasgow, coloured according to % of residents stated as Asian in the 2011 UK Census.

02South Asian communities

Scotland's South Asian population of more than 80,000 is mostly from Indian and Pakistani background. The majority are adherents of the Hindu, Sikh and Islamic faiths and are concentrated around urban areas, such as Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. However, there are Asian communities in places as small as Stornoway and as far north as Aberdeen.

03Notable Scottish Asians

Arts and entertainment

Business

Politics

Sport

Other

  • Mohammed Atif Siddique, convicted of terrorism offences
  • Mamta Singhal, winner of the Women Engineering Society Prize - Young Women Engineer of the Year 2007; finalist for Global MBA student of the Year 2008
Watch videos about Scottish AsiansExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Scottish Asians”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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