Coronavirus: Black African Brits dying at 3.5 times rate of white people, study finds

Institute for Fiscal Studies points to ‘striking differences in economic vulnerability between ethnic groups’ to explain much higher death toll

Britons from black African backgrounds are dying from coronavirus at more than three times the rate of white people, an alarming study concluded on Friday.

Pakistani deaths are almost as disproportionate at 2.7 times higher, while fatalities among people of black Caribbean origin are 1.7 times greater, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found.

The research rejects demographic differences as the reason for the higher death toll – pointing out most ethnic minority groups are much younger than the white British population, so could be expected to survive in higher numbers.

But it may be partially explained by more black and Asian people being in “key worker” roles, while health conditions such as diabetes may also “be important”.

“Hospital deaths show clear disparities between ethnic groups in their mortality from Covid-19,” said Ross Warwick, a research economist at the IFS.

“When you account for the fact that most minority groups are relatively young overall, the number of deaths looks disproportionate in most ethnic minority groups.”

Professor Lucinda Platt, of the London School of Economics, who also carried out the research, pointed to the “striking differences in economic vulnerability between ethnic groups”.

“Bangladeshi men are four times as likely as white British men to have jobs in shutdown industries, with Pakistani men nearly 3 times as likely, and household savings are lower than average among black Africans, black Caribbeans and Bangladeshis.

“By contrast Indians and the largely foreign-born ‘other white’ group do not seem to be facing disproportionate economic risks.”

The research comes after the government launched an inquiry into why Covid-19 appeared to be killing more black, Asian and minority ethnic (Bame) people.

However, it sparked further controversy by selecting Trevor Phillips to lead it when he is suspended from the Labour party over allegations of Islamophobia and has a history of making controversial remarks about Muslims.

Labour is carrying out its own inquiry, asking Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, to examine why the virus seems to disproportionately affect ethnic minorities.

The IFS research found that black Caribbeans appear to be suffering the worst impact, looking at per capita hospital deaths which are three times that of white British people.

But, taking into account age, sex and geographic profiles of both overall deaths in England and Wales and each ethnic group, it is black African deaths that are highest – at 3.5 times the expected rate.

One researcher said – given there are so many more white British people – those deaths should be three times higher than those of black Africans, but are in fact about the same.

One third of all working-age black Africans are employed in key worker roles – 50 per cent more than the share of the white British population.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of Bangladeshi men over the age of 60 have a long-term health condition that would put them at particular risk from infection.