 The ethnic mix is 86.4% white, 8.1% were Asian or British Asian, 2.0% black, 1.1% other ethnic groups, and 2.3% were multi-ethnic.Between 1996 and 2004, the population of the city increased by 4.9 per cent — the tenth-biggest increase in England.In 2005 the Government Statistics stated that Southampton was the third most densely populated city in the country after London and Portsmouth, respectively.