West Midlands in general. 66.6% identify as White British, compared to 79.2% in the West Midlands Region and 79.8% in England. 33.4% identify as non-White British, compared to 20.8% in the West Midlands Region and 20.2% in England. Other: 7.2% as Other White (White Irish, Irish Traveller and White Other, including mostly other Europeans), compared to 3.6% in the West Midlands Region and 5.7% in England. 2.7% identify as Mixed/Multiple-ethnic group, compared to 2.4% in the West Midlands Region and 2.2% in England. 16.3% identify as Asian/Asian British (including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and other South Asian groups), compared to 10.8% in the West Midlands Region and 7.7% in England;. 5.5% identify as Black/Black British (including Black African, Black Caribbean and other black), compared to 3.2% in the West Midlands Region and 3.4% in England. 1.6% identify as Other (including Arab and others), compared to 0.9% in the West Midlands Region and 1.0% in England. Coventry has a large student population (approximately 15,000 are non-UK) who are in the UK for 12 months or longer that are included in these figures. Figures from the Coventry Inspires Image Group state 'Ethnic Minorities' at 13 per cent. According to the 2011 Census, 53.7% (170,090) of residents identified themselves as Christian making Christianity the largest followed religion in the city. Islam was the second most followed religion with 7.5% (23,665) of residents identifying with the religion. 5.0% (15,912) of Coventry's population were Sikh, disproportionately larger than the national average in England of 0.8%. Hindus made up 3.5% (11,152) of the resident population followed by Buddhists at 0.3% (1,067) and Jews at 0.1% (210) respectively. The adherents of other religions made up 0.5% (1,641) of the city's population. Almost a quarter of Coventry residents, 23.0% (72,896), identified themselves as having no religion and 6.4% did not declare any religion. Government and politics Local and national government Traditionally a part of Warwickshire (although it was a county in its own right for 400 years), Coventry became an independent county borough in 1889. It later became a metropolitan district of the West Midlands county under the Local Government Act 1974, even though it was entirely separate to the Birmingham conurbation area (this is why Coventry appears to unnaturally "jut out" into Warwickshire on political maps of the UK). In 1986, the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Coventry became administered as an effective unitary authority