The number of children’s books featuring Black main characters fell by almost 8% last year, according to research into diversity in UK publishing. Just 47 of the 2,189 books published for under-10s in 2025 featured a Black main character, marking a 7.8% decline from the previous year, as reported by Inclusive Books for Children.

Context

Black children make up about 8.5% of that age bracket in England and Wales. The representation of south Asian main characters also saw a significant drop, falling by 14.3 percentage points to 1.4%, despite children of south Asian heritage constituting about 12.4% of the population of under-10s. Furthermore, only three books featured main characters of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) heritage, a 50% decrease from the previous year, representing just 0.1% of the surveyed books compared to the group’s 2.2% share of the population.

Key Findings

The research conducted by the literacy charity revealed that:

  • Only 150 books (6.9% of those surveyed) featured main characters from minority ethnic, disabled, or neurodivergent backgrounds.
  • Of these, 37.3% were written or illustrated by creators who did not share the background of their characters.
  • The number of books with disabled main characters dropped by 60% in 2025, resulting in just two titles, neither of which was by a disabled creator.