White Britons to be a minority -- in 50 years

David Coleman, professor of demography at Oxford University, said the decline in white population would be due to a record breaking immigration along with the departure of thousands of Britons to greener pastures.

The Sun quoted Coleman as saying that the massive number of foreigners coming to Britain would transform the country.

He said official projections estimate Britain's population would shoot up to 77 million by 2051 - and 85 million by 2083."On those assumptions, the 'white British' population would decline to 45 million (59 percent of the total) by 2051.

"Were the assumptions to hold, the 'white British' population would become the minority after about 2066. It's a milestone that would be passed much earlier in younger age-groups."

He pointed out that the US, by comparison, "is now about 65 percent white (non-Hispanic) and that group is projected to fall to 50 percent by 2045".

The professor went on to say that even if the number of immigrants was reduced to match the number of Britons leaving, the "white British" population would still fall below 50 percent by the end of the century.Coleman said this would "represent an enormous change to national identity - cultural, political, economic and religious".