1. Children and Young People – Section 1
Population of children and young people
Total number of Children and Young People:
Children and young people make up almost a quarter of Barnet’s total population
and, in numerical terms, Barnet has the second largest population of children and
young people in London, with, in 2008, almost 84,000 children age 0 - 19.
When ethnic groups are broken down by age, a markedly different age structure
emerges between groups. Under 20’s account for 40% of residents with Black
African origin and 55% of residents with ‘Black Other’ origin compared to accounting
for just under 21.6% of the White population and just over 25% of the population
overall.
Barnet’s younger population is therefore much more diverse than the population
overall and while the majority are White there are higher proportions of children in
many minority ethnic groups when compared with the White population. For
example, Black Africans represent 8.7% of the under 20 population compared with
5.4% of the overall population. Census data confirms that Black African school age
children more than doubled between 1991 and 2001, from 1,228 in 1991 to 2,827 in
2001.
Birth data
Recent birth data shows a significant increase in children born over the last few
years. There was a 22% increase in live births from 2002 to 2007. This increasing
birth rate will impact on the services provided by local partners, particularly schools
and health services.

2. Births to mothers living in Barnet (Data source – ONS)
Live
Year Births
1998 4227
1999 4211
2000 4130
2001 4063
2002 4180
2003 4334
2004 4482
2005 4728
2006 4835
2007 5120
2008
School census data – ethnicity
Languages Spoken by the School Population
The 2008 school census recorded that 177 different languages apart from English
were spoken by pupils in Barnet schools. The most common languages other than
English are shown below:
Language Number of pupils speaking
Gujarati 1837
Persian/Farsi 1141
Somali 1135
Arabic 971
Urdu 815
Polish 746
Source – School Census
Bullying / hate crime broader community safety issues,
Last year, 1,128 young people (under 19) were recorded as victims of crime. For
crimes where the victim is under 18, the most common offences are street crime
(robbery from the person and snatch) and violent crime (ABH and common assault).
Bullying both in and outside of school is a concern commonly raised by Barnet
children and young people taking part in consultation exercises or activities.
Consultation with pupils in Summer 2008 (Tellus3 Survey) suggests that 11% had
been bullied in school in the previous four weeks, below the national average of
15%. This is an improvement compared with Summer 2007 where 23% had been
bullied and 30% nationally. Below are the number of racial incidents and
homophobic incidents in schools.

3. Young People not in education, employment of training as at September 2008