A British-Latino coalition group has been lobbying the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to include ‘Latin American’ as an official ethnicity in the upcoming 2031 national census, writes Megan Norcott….
Following the launch of a government consultation on ethnicity standards, which closes on 4 February, the Coalition of Latin Americans in the UK (CLAUK) hosted engagement sessions across London to mobilise the Latino community in support of official recognition.
According to a report carried out by Queen Mary University in 2016, there are approximately 145,000 Latinos in London and 250,000 nationwide, yet is no representation for Latin Americans in statistical analysis or official documentation on a national level.
This leaves the second fastest-growing population in London, outside of EU migrants, oddly unaccounted for and amalgamated into the category of “other ethnicity.”
Jacobo Belilty, CLAUK coordinator, explained that constantly ticking the “other” box and grappling with the question of where they were from was a mental burden unfairly impacting Latinos.
He said: “It’s primarily a psychological weight.
“When Latin Americans look at the question, they don’t know what to respond, and it creates this sort of confusion that’s very existential,” he added.
“It makes you wonder ‘Who am I here?’ and ‘What’s my place in this world?’ but also ‘What’s my place in the UK?’”
Trying to end the dehumanisation of being “othered”, CLAUK has fought for the recognition of Latin Americans in the UK since 2012, when Southwark became the first borough to include the ethnicity in its local data collection.
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Lambeth then quickly followed in 2013.
Together, the two boroughs represent the highest concentration of Latin Americans in the UK, with Brazilian and Colombian communities most prominent, though data collection is difficult and fragmented due to patchy recognition.
2011 census data must be supplemented by the number of 2nd generation births, emigres from Spain, Latinos with EU passports and irregular migrants to provide a full picture of London in 2013, which is what most campaigners currently work from.
Yet Daniela Londoño, a policy, community and learning coordinator at Latin American Women’s Aid, described her joy when Haringey Council became the latest authority to adopt the change in 2025.
She said: “It mattered a lot to me. That day I was in the council, I cried, because I’ve been living in this borough for a long time and I have never seen anything in Spanish.
“No one recognised us here in terms of formal recognition. So I always felt invisible everywhere; it was like I didn’t exist.
“And I think these forms of othering are very violent when you are a migrant.”
While uptake of the official ethnic category has begun at the local level, adoption remains uneven and has yet to extend to national government.
Belilty, 29, said reliance on the “Other” category has distorted policy development and resulted in government services that overlook the needs of Latin American constituents.
Londoño, 32, who hails from Colombia, also bemoaned the lack of data on Spanish-speaking populations that was preventing local and national authorities from seeing the need for translators in official roles.
Drawing on her work with Women Against Homelessness and Abuse, which helps women sleeping rough or fleeing violence, she said Latina women were frequently “forgotten” about by the government or housed in substandard accommodation that they had no means to contest.
She said: “There are many people in our community who don’t speak English, and in the case of women, this might be because abusers are not allowing them to learn, as a form of control.
“When they go to local authorities to try and escape violence, to try and find a house, they don’t get any interpretation service or translation.
“One of the other things that happens a lot is that the council offer temporary accommodations in very bad conditions, very, very undignified conditions, and they say, ‘You should accept it because you wouldn’t even get that in your country.’”
Latina women who experience abuse are likely to endure more than 60 assaults before seeking help, according to Southwark’s 2024 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
This trend is linked to the classification of Latin Americans as “Other,” as people become disengaged with a political system that they feel does not represent them and are unable to access or understand their legal rights.
Latin American residents are also less likely to use healthcare services such as vaccinations or cancer screenings due to unfamiliarity with NHS systems.
The Covid-19 pandemic revealed that only one in seven were registered with a GP, following research by the Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation.
Belilty, who was born in Venezuela and immigrated to the UK when he was 17, said: “There is a general lack of information about public services, so CLAUK is a vehicle to close that gap between what is available publicly from statutory agencies and what Latinos have access to.
“We are concerned by those who feel invisible and just think ‘Okay, my needs do not matter. I’m coming here, and even though I’m part of public life and I’m working or studying, I just have to accept that I’m at the margins.’”
Community information sessions with CLAUK are supporting the consultation process, run jointly by the ONS and Government Statistical Service (GSS), as the coalition aims to boost Latin American engagement in local democracy.
However, for a highly educated ethnic group, recognition will need to deliver systemic change if it is to translate into economic as well as political empowerment.
The 2016 study by Queen Mary University and the Trust for London revealed a stark mismatch: while around half of London’s Latin American population held a university degree, 45% were working in insecure, low-paid jobs, including care, hospitality, and security.
In Southwark alone, 3799 people over the age of 16 held high-level qualifications, with an additional 3257 citing ‘other’ vocational/work-related qualifications, and, most often, unrecognised foreign qualifications.
Additionally, two-thirds worked in cleaning when they first arrived in London, despite only around 2% working in the sector in Latin America, indicating a pattern of downward mobility for Latinos in the UK.
As Latin Americans are statistically invisible on a national level, little funding or attention is allocated to helping people who possess a tertiary level qualification convert it, or learn to speak English.
As 45% of Latinos report working in exploitative conditions with long hours, many people do not have time to learn the language and suffer a cycle of enforced poverty compounded by poor housing.
Abusive landlords frequently exploit Latin Americans’ unfamiliarity with rental laws in Southwark, and almost a third of residents report overcrowded housing.
By securing ethnic recognition in the 2031 census, CLAUK aims to bring these challenges to the national stage.
The consultation has resonated within the community, mobilising people of all ages who are ready to push for change.
Juliet Rojas, a 20-year-old British-Colombian waitress at Distriandina bakery in Elephant and Castle, welcomed what could be a new chapter for Latinos in London and across the country.
She said: “We feel very strongly about our roots, our ethnicity, where we come from, where we grew up in and our culture as well. We love our culture.
“So if they do change it, I will feel very excited going to fill out a form and thinking ‘Oh wow I don’t have to tick ‘Other’ anymore, there’s finally a box for me.”
Feauturd image credits: Megan Norcott.
