THE number of people who identify as English in Oxford has been revealed.

St George's Day – a celebration of England’s patron saint and the country’s history – is on Tuesday, April 23.

But the latest population survey from the Office for National Statistics, which covers all of last year, shows just 43 per cent of people in England said they identified as English.

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Respondents can select as many options as they like from British, English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish or ‘other’.

In Oxford, 22 per cent of people said they identified as English last year – up from 19 per cent in the year to June 2016, before the Brexit referendum.

A decade earlier, 28 per cent of people identified as English, while it was 51 per cent in 2004.

Nationally, the number of people identifying as English has broadly fallen over the last decade.

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Some 52 per cent said they were English in the year to June 2016, while this rose to 54 per cent in 2013. It was as high as 59 per cent in 2004.

Sunder Katwala, director of the British Future think tank, which works to promote diversity and social inclusion, said: "People’s sense of Englishness ebbs and flows.

"We could do a lot more to celebrate English identity outside of major sporting moments, in an inclusive way – flying the flag with pride and making sure everyone feels invited to the party on St George’s Day.”