h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The results from the 2011 census are gradually being released.

Recently detailed information on perceived national identity were released. People could choose one or more than one alternative.

The results for Devon can be summarized below.

English.....................79.0% (67.8% chose only English)
British.....................26.7% (15.3% chose only British)
Cornish......................0.1%
Welsh/Scottish/Irish.........2.2%
Other........................3.9%

I believe that this is the first time that people had the choice between English and British. I was interested to note that more than one of five did not identify themselves a English at all, and only two-thirds saw their nationality as only English.

The results for Devon are not out of line with other parts of the country. The highest area for English identity was the North East, and (within England) the lowest was London - which also had the highest identification with British.

I also noted some interesting results for Cornwall, which in summary were:

English.....................69.5% (59.3% chose only English)
British.....................24.5% (15.3% chose only British)
Cornish.....................13.8% (9.9% selected only Cornish)
Welsh/Scottish/Irish.........1.8%
Other.......................16.4%

This is the first Census where separate statistics for a Cornish identity was released. There was a significant campaign to encourage people to identify themselves as Cornish - including by the Cornish Unitary Council.

I do not know what response they expected, but I was surprised that the percentage was so low. It seems that the result this year was (only) 20,000 more people than in 2001 - despite the campaigns.

It should be noted that as in 2001 there was no "tick-box" option for 'Cornish' in 2011 - you had to write it in - however...

The fact that so many in Cornwall chose English was also a surprise. Almost 60% chose only English, and I would have expected a much lower figure here given the "Cornwall not England" campaigners.

The relatively high incidence of "Other" in Cornwall may need more analysis. Many parts of England had as high or higher figures. London is one obvious example, but both Cambridge and Oxford recorded more than 20%. However such a high figure is unusual for non-Metropolitan areas. It may be that some people wrote "Kernewek" (I assume that the Census would not have included these as Cornish), or were protesting in some way, ... or simply could not write Cornish in a legible way

Perhaps more information will come to light with later releases

With respect to Cornwall, I have now realised that the high "other" category mentioned above actually includes the "Cornish" respondents, as those choosing Cornish had to select "other" and then enter "Cornish" in text - and which was later split out by ONS. This was not made obvious in the ONS dataset.

Adjusting for this the "non-Cornish" other is 2.3%, somewhat lower than in Devon which(similarly adjusted) is 3.8%.

Incidentally, it is also notable how few Scillonians (who have their own unitary authority) defined themselves as Cornish - only 2.2%.
I am unsure why this is so.