Parsi Community in Birmingham

Where they come from

The Parsis are followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest faiths, whose ancestors left Persia more than a thousand years ago and settled in Gujarat on India's west coast. Most Parsis today live in Mumbai. In 1892, the Parsi reformer Dadabhai Naoroji became the first Asian member of the British Parliament.

The community in numbers

At the 2021 Census, out of a city population of 1,144,919, 72 residents gave their religion as Zoroastrian.

Working for Birmingham

Parsis are famous for their contribution to business, industry, law, medicine and the arts, from the Tata family, whose companies include Jaguar Land Rover, a major employer in the region, to the singer Freddie Mercury, who was born into a Parsi family. Parsis in Birmingham work in medicine, engineering, finance and business.

Birmingham grew rich as the city of a thousand trades, and that spirit of making and doing is still strong. Today the trades sit alongside healthcare, education, finance, law, logistics and technology. The Parsi community brings energy to that mix, from people starting small businesses to those caring for patients, teaching in classrooms and keeping homes and workplaces in good repair.

Culture and community life

Navroz, the Parsi new year, is celebrated with prayers, new clothes and family meals, and fire is the central symbol of Zoroastrian worship. Parsi food, including dhansak and patra ni machhi, fish steamed in banana leaves, is famous, and the community is known for its charity and hospitality.

In a city where scores of languages are spoken, the Parsi community adds another voice to the conversation. Its members, old and new, are helping to make Birmingham the confident, outward-looking city it wants to be.