1. LIVERPOOL Liverpool’s unique culture is a direct outcome of its diverse communities  Before the first world war, Liverpool’s global seaport had made the city the most ethnically diverse and cosmopolitan UK city outside London  The city’s economic and population decline post 1945 meant that relatively few of the “new Commonwealth” migrants settled here compared with other parts of the UK  by the 2001 Census, Liverpool was numerically one of the least ethnically diverse city’s in the UK,  This has started to change along with the city’s improved economic fortunes over the past decade and recent population analysis shows that Liverpool’s recent population stabilisation is due to the increase in Liverpool’s non- white British population, most notably Eastern European migrants.  But diversity is not about quantity! – it is about the breadth of difference and how we value and respect these differences – Current City profile  Total population 465,700 (2011 ONS mid-year estimates)  13.7% of the population are Non ‘White British’ (i.e. White Irish, White Other. Mixed, Asian, Asian British, Black, black British, Chinese or other ethnic group) – (Source: ONS 2009).  Liverpool’s BME population increased by an estimated 23,800 (65.0%) between 2001-09. Without this increase the city’s population would have continued to decline. Over the same period, the city’s white British population fell by 5.8% (23,400)  Almost half (44.5%) of the growth in Liverpool’s BME population between 2001-2009 occurred in the “White Other” group. This group trebled in size between 2001 and 2009 (an increase of 10,600 residents). The majority of this group are migrants from Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania etc. and countries such as the Yemen. Other population groups which increased markedly were:  Indians (4,700 additional Liverpool residents)  Pakistanis (2,100 residents)