Covid: How different ethnic groups have been affected by the pandemic
Most people in the UK have said they experienced a worsening of their mental health between 2019 and April 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS has analysed data from different ethnic groups in the UK just before the Covid-19 pandemic and in April this year, when the UK was in a full national lockdown.
Data from the ONS reveals most ethnic groups have suffered in society in the past year - whether that is financially or mentally - through stress or lack of sleep and loneliness.
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Those in the Indian ethnic group in the UK reported both an increased difficulty with sleep due to worry in the initial period of lockdown (April 2020) and had higher scores than other groups on a measure of self-reported mental health difficulties.
Almost three in 10 White Irish respondents were more likely than those White British, Chinese and other Asian or Black, African, Caribbean or Black British groups to report an increase in loneliness or continuing to feel lonely often between 2019 and April 2020.
The financial resilience of households headed by someone of Black African or Other Black ethnicity prior to the pandemic was significantly lower than among households headed by those from most other ethnic groups.
Before the pandemic, White British or Other White groups were more likely to report being in paid work compared with working age adults of Pakistani or Bangladeshi, Chinese or other Asian, Indian and Black, African, Caribbean or Black British ethnicities.
Around half of working age adults of White British (46%) and Other White (51%) ethnicities who were in paid work reported a decrease in their weekly hours worked in April compared to pre-pandemic.
However, only 33% of Indian, Black, African, Caribbean or Black British ethnicities reported a decrease in their weekly hours.
Of those in paid work, the Other White ethnic group were more likely to report a decrease in take-home pay than those of White British and Indian ethnicities.
More than a quarter (27%) of people from Black, African, Caribbean or Black British ethnic groups reported finding it very or quite difficult to get by financially in April 2020.
This was significantly more than those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi (13%), Indian (8%), Other White (7%) or White Irish (6%) ethnic groups.
Of those in paid work, those from Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic groups were less likely to report working from home at least "sometimes" during the lockdown in April.
Respondents from Pakistani or Bangladeshi ethnic groups were also more likely to report their financial situation had worsened or remained negative than White British respondents.
Glenn Everett, Deputy Director of the Sustainability & Inequalities Division at the ONS said the research shows "how the impact on different ethnic groups varies and how people’s circumstances before the pandemic could affect their experience during the first national lockdown."
He added: "Financial resilience was lower among Black African or Other Black households before the pandemic, for example, which would explain why these groups found it harder to manage financially during lockdown.
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, mental health deteriorated across most ethnic groups during lockdown but was most marked in the Indian group."