IBC: Children's Books With Black Main Characters Fell 7.8% in 2025

How many UK children's books published in 2025 had a Black main character? Forty-seven, according to Inclusive Books for Children. On its Excluded Voices report page, the charity presents Excluded Voices 2026, which it calls the third Excluded Voices report. The page's key statistics for 2025 say just 47 books (2.1%) had Black main characters, down 7.8% on the previous year, despite around 8.5% of 1- to 9-year-olds being of Black heritage.

The report, in the charity's description, examines the extent to which British marginalised authors and illustrators, which it calls Own Voices, contribute to stories for children aged 1 to 9 that feature marginalised main characters. It tracks year-on-year changes across baby and toddler books, picture books, and children's fiction for 5 to 9s published in 2025. The page says this edition builds on the 2025 Excluded Voices report, which investigated Own Voice output from 2022 to 2024. It also says the findings are contextualised with industry data from NielsenIQ BookData. The key statistics printed on the page do not include those Nielsen figures.

The counts the charity prints

These are the key statistics the page lists under "In 2025":

• Just 47 books (2.1%) had Black main characters, down 7.8% on the previous year, despite around 8.5% of 1- to 9-year-olds being of Black heritage.
• South Asian main characters featured in just 30 books (1.4%), down 14.3%, despite children of South Asian heritage making up around 12.4% of the 1 to 9 age group.
• Only 3 books (0.1%) had main characters of Middle East and North African heritage, down 50% year on year, against an under 10s population of around 2.2%.
• Picture books centring disabled characters decreased by 60% in 2025 to just 2 books, and neither title was by a disabled creator.
• The increase in neurodivergent representation in picture books was sustained yet modest, from 3 to 13 books, with fewer than half being by neurodivergent authors and illustrators.

The page uses those population comparisons itself. It does not, in this key-statistics list, print the previous year's book counts beside the "down 7.8%" and "down 14.3%" lines, so those percentages are the charity's stated change, not a second figure calculated here. The Middle East and North African line is explicit that the drop is year on year, and the disabled-character line is explicit that the picture-book count fell by 60% to two books.

The same bullets separate creator identity from character identity. For the two picture books centring disabled characters, the page says neither title was by a disabled creator. For neurodivergent representation in picture books, it says the count rose from 3 to 13 and that fewer than half of those books were by neurodivergent authors and illustrators. The page does not give an Own Voice share, in these bullets, for the 47 books with Black main characters, the 30 with South Asian main characters, or the 3 with Middle East and North African main characters.

What the report is counting

The charity describes the report as an annual look at Own Voice representation in the creation of UK children's books. The age band on the page is children aged 1 to 9, split into baby and toddler books, picture books, and children's fiction for 5 to 9s, and the publishing year is 2025. The population shares sit next to different age labels in the charity's own wording: 1- to 9-year-olds for Black heritage, the 1 to 9 age group for South Asian heritage, and an under 10s population for Middle East and North African heritage. Those are the comparisons the page prints. It does not reprint a census table or name a census year beside them.

The page invites readers to download Excluded Voices 2026 for the latest stats and insights. The key statistics above are the figures the public report page itself displays. It does not, on that public list, name individual titles, authors, illustrators, or publishing houses, and it does not print a single total for every book surveyed. A writer looking for "which 47 books" or "which two picture books" will not find those titles in the key statistics. The page also does not carry a named spokesperson quotation next to the figures.

Why it matters for authors

For authors and illustrators of UK books for ages 1 to 9, the charity's own comparison is the news. It sets 47 books, 2.1% of the books it is describing, against around 8.5% of 1- to 9-year-olds of Black heritage, and it says that count is down 7.8% on the previous year. It sets 30 books (1.4%) against around 12.4% of the 1 to 9 age group for South Asian heritage. It sets 3 books (0.1%) against an under 10s population of around 2.2% for Middle East and North African heritage, and it says that count is down 50% year on year.

The creator lines are the other half of the report's stated subject, which is Own Voice representation and not only character counts. The page says the two picture books centring disabled characters were not by a disabled creator, and that fewer than half of the 13 picture books in the neurodivergent count were by neurodivergent authors and illustrators. Picture-book neurodivergent representation is the one increase the key statistics describe, from 3 books to 13, and the page calls that increase sustained yet modest.

What an author cannot take from the public key statistics is a house-by-house ranking or a title list. The charity is reporting a market-wide count for UK children's books published in 2025 in the age bands above, with NielsenIQ BookData used as context it does not reproduce in those bullets. The figures to cite are the ones on the report page: 47, 30, 3, 2, and 13, and the percentage changes the charity prints beside them.

Sources

• Inclusive Books for Children: Excluded Voices report (Excluded Voices 2026; key statistics for books published in 2025)