Indians make up the largest number of non-UK residents in England, Wales | World news
British Census data for 2021 shows that Indians make up the largest proportion of the foreign-born population in England and Wales at 1.5%. This means that one in six people living in England and Wales last year were born outside the country, Indians being 1.5 per cent of the population.
The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that India was the most common country of birth outside the UK last year at 920,000 people, followed by Poland at 743,000 people or 1.2 per cent of the population and Pakistan at 624,000 (1 per cent).
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“One in six regular residents of England and Wales was born outside the UK, an increase of 2.5 million since 2011, from 7.5 million (13.4 per cent) to 10 million (16.8 per cent),” the ONS said.
“India is the most common destination country outside the UK in 2021,” he added.
The top three countries of birth outside the UK for England and Wales have not changed as India, Poland and Pakistan since the last census 10 years ago, with numbers rising in all categories – India from 694,000, Poland from 579,000 and Pakistan from 482,000 in 2011.
London is the region with the largest proportion of people born outside the UK and the largest proportion of people without a UK passport.
By 2021, more than four in 10 (40.6 per cent) regular residents in London are non-UK, and more than one in five (23.3 per cent) have a non-UK passport.
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This is a small increase from 2011, when 36.7 per cent of London residents were non-UK born and 21.0 per cent had a non-UK passport.
“The census shows how the total population has changed over the past ten years. That decade, of course, saw us leave the EU and we lived with the pandemic,” said Jon Wroth-Smith, deputy director of the census.
“While these events may have influenced people’s decisions or ability to go out or travel at a given time, the census tells us about the change every decade – who lives here in March 2021 , compared with March 2011. We can see Romanians have been the main driver in this change, while there have also been increases due to migration from India, Pakistan and Poland, and southern European countries such as Italy ,” he said.
