Knowing our communities

The history of Hackney’s diverse communities

Historically Hackney has welcomed people from around the world. Inward migration can be traced back to the 17th century with the arrival of immigrants such as the French Huguenots.

There are well established Caribbean, Turkish and Kurdish, Vietnamese and Orthodox Jewish communities. There are also newer communities of people from African countries and Eastern Europe.

The ONS estimated that Hackney’s population is around 260,000 and predicts it will grow to around 300,000 by 2050. Around 47% of the population come from Black and Global Majority groups, with the largest (21%) being Black or Black British. 36% of the population are White British.

Hackney has one the largest groups of Charedi Jewish people in Europe. They predominantly live in the north east of the borough and represent around 7% of the borough’s overall population. At least 4.5% of Hackney’s residents are Turkish or Kurdish and are mainly concentrated in the South, East and Central parts of the borough. At least 89 different languages are spoken in the borough.

For more information, visit Hackney’s history of diversity.

Age and sex

Hackney is a relatively young borough, with over half of the population (55%) under 35 years old, and almost a third (31%) aged under 24. People aged over 55 make up 17% of the population.

According to the 2021 Census there are proportionally more women living in Hackney than men with 52.2% of the population female and 47.8% male. The proportion of males under 20 is slightly higher than females, but there are higher proportions of females in all age groups over 55 years than males.

For more information on the age and sex of Hackney’s population, visit Age and sex discrimination.

Carers

According to the 2021 Census, 7.6% of the population (16,322 people) provide unpaid care. This is broadly in line with the London average, but lower than the England average, probably due to the relative youth of Hackney’s population.

For more information on Hackney’s carers, visit Carers’ rights.

Disability

According to the 2021 Census, almost a fifth of the population of Hackney (19.1%) are disabled under the Equality Act 2010.

For more information on disability in Hackney, visit Disability.

Gender reassignment

The 2021 Census estimated that around 1% of the population in Hackney is transgender, with a high proportion of people identifying as a non-binary gender.

For more information on gender reassignment, visit Gender reassignment.

Marriage and civil partnership

27% of adults in Hackney are married or in a civil partnership compared to 40% in London and 45% in England and Wales.

For more information on marriage and civil partnership in Hackney, visit Marriage and civil partnership.

Pregnancy and maternity

There were 3971 live births in City and Hackney births in Hackney in 2021. The general fertility rate (GFR) for Hackney is 54 live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 compared to 56 in 1000 for London and England.

For more information on pregnancy and maternity in Hackney, visit Pregnancy and maternity.

Race and ethnicity

According to the 2022 Census, around 47% of the population come from Black and Global Majority groups; 21.1% as ‘Black’, 10.4% as ‘Asian’, 6.7% as ‘Mixed’ and 8.7% identify within the ‘Other ethnic group’ category.

Hackney has one the largest group of Charedi Jewish people in Europe. They predominately live in the north east of the borough and represent almost 7% of the borough’s overall population. Just over 3% of Hackney’s residents were born in in Turkey and live throughout the borough.

Hackney is a borough with a huge range of language diversity, with 89 different languages listed as a resident’s preferred language, out of 96 languages listed in the census. The most common first language is English, followed by Turkish (3%), Spanish (2%) and French, Portuguese or Yiddish (all 1%).

For more information on race and ethnicity, visit Race and ethnicity.

Religion and belief

Hackney’s communities represent a diversity of religions and beliefs, which has changed over the past ten years.

For the 2011 census, 40% of residents said that they are Christian, 28% reported have no religious belief, 14% were Muslim and 6% Jewish,

In the 2021 Census, this had changed to 36% of residents with no religious beliefs, 31% Christian, 13% Muslim and 7% Jewish.

For more information on religion and belief in Hackney, visit Religion and belief.

Sexual orientation

The 2021 Census estimated that 16,880 people identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or another non-heterosexual orientation, representing almost 8% of Hackney’s population. Of those 16,880 residents, 52% identified as Lesbian or Gay, 36% as Bisexual, 7% as Pansexual, 3% as Queer and 0.6% as Asexual.

Hackney has proportionally the 6th highest LGB+ population in the UK. It has the 5th highest in London and a higher proportion of residents identifying as Bisexual or Queer than any London Borough.

For more information on sexual orientation in Hackney, visit Sexual orientation.

General resources on equality and diversity

The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s statutory codes of practice set out and provide examples for employers, workers, service providers, businesses, public bodies, organisations and service user to help them understand and implement the 2010 Equality Act and the 1998 Human Rights Act.

The University of Warwick has a human rights and equality impact of public resource database. This contains useful resources for carrying out equality impact assessments.

The Women and Equalities Commons Select Committee conducts inquiries on issues like:

• transgender equality
• the gender pay gap
• employment opportunities for Muslims in the UK

They also make recommendations to government and other agencies.

Facts, figures and performance

We have a legal duty to publish information about people who use our services and our employees who share a protected characteristic.

Our Equality Plan 2024 to 2026 (google doc) sets out our objectives for advancing equality and promoting cohesion.

We based our Equality Plan on:

• our shared evidence base
• report on the public consultation (google doc)
• key equalities data (google doc)

Shared evidence base

Visit our shared evidence base for:

• Hackcney’s community Strategy, Equality Plans and frameworks and policy reviews
• the Hackney profile – a guide to the borough’s population with key data on economy, health, housing, environment, crime, development and equalities
• ward profiles – key statistics for each of Hackney’s 21 wards
• population information – including official estimates of the size and structure of the population, and data on current characteristics and future growth trends
• in-depth research and needs assessments

Performance

To ensure our services are meeting the needs of users, we regularly monitor the performance of our services.

Consultation

We carry out up to 100 consultations each year on a wide range of subjects.