Wednesday 2 November 2022 01:52 PM Number of foreign-born residents rises to 10million in England and Wales with ... trends now
One-in-six people living in England and Wales were born outside the UK with 10million non-UK nationals now calling the two nations home, new census data has shown.
Figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a huge 576 per cent surge in people who were born in Romania - up from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.
According to the data, the number of usual residents of England and Wales who were born outside the UK had risen by 2.5 million since 2011.
The large increase in the number of those born in Romania followed the lifting of working restrictions across the European Union in 2014.
More than half of the total population increase in the past decade is because of positive net migration – the difference between those who immigrated into and emigrated out of England and Wales.
The news comes statisticians from the ONS today revealed:
India remained the most common country of birth outside the UK - with those 925,000 people making up 1.5 per cent of the population.
The data showed those who listed Ireland as their country of birth declined from 407,000 in 2011 to 325,000 in 2021.
Meanwhile, the countries no longer in the top 10 non-UK countries of birth were the United States and Jamaica.
But Italy entered the table in sixth place behind Romania, fourth, and Ireland, fifth, and ahead of Bangladesh seventh, eighth-placed Nigeria, Germany, ninth, and South Africa at 10th.
Commenting on the new figures, census deputy director Jon Wroth-Smith said: 'The census paints a picture of how the make-up of the population has changed in the past decade. That decade, of course, saw us leave the EU as well as live with the pandemic.
'While these events may have had an impact on people’s decisions or ability to migrate or travel at a given time, the census tells us about the change over the whole decade - who was living here in March 2021, compared with March 2011.
'We can see Romanians have been a big driver in this change, while there have also been increases due to migration from India, Pakistan and Poland, as well as southern European countries such as Italy.
'We can also see that migration in the year prior to census was lower in 2021 than it was in 2011.
'This is likely, in large part, due to the various travel restrictions in place during the coronavirus pandemic.'
The census showed London has remained the region with both the largest proportion of people born outside the UK and the largest proportion of people with non-UK passports.
In 2021, more than four-in-10 (40.6 per cent) usual residents in the capital were non-UK born, and more than one-in-five (23.3 per cent) had a non-UK passport.
By contrast, both Wales (6.9 per cent) and the north-east of England (6.8 per cent) had approximately one-in-14 usual residents born outside the UK.
Similarly, Wales (4.0 per cent) and the North East (3.7 per cent) also had the lowest proportions of the population with non-UK passports.
The ONS calculated the average size of households in England and Wales, which remains broadly the same as in 2011.
Census statistics also showed the usual resident population in England and Wales grew by more than 3.5 million in the 10 years between censuses, from 56,075,912 in 2011 to 59,597,542 in 2021.
Figures revealed that of the 10 million people born outside the UK, four in 10 arrived in the last decade, while a third came to the England and Wales before 2001.
As well as shining a light on the breakdown of foreign-born families, the ONS study also unveiled the makeup of the 25 million households in England and Wales - including marital status.
And for the first time in its history, the official census figures revealed the number of same-sex married couples across the two countries.
Brighton and Hove was celebrated as the same-sex capital of England and Wales, with the area have the biggest proportion of residents living in same-sex marriages or civil partnerships than any other local authority,
In all, there were 3,867 people - about 1.4 per cent - living in a same-sex marriage or civil partnership in 2021, up from one per cent in 2011.
Brighton and Hove was followed by Lambeth and Islington, which had one per cent of people in a same-sex relationships and Southwark, with 0.8 per cent.
Albanian Channel migrants face being removed 'within days' of arrival in the UK under new proposals to clampdown on crisis - as ministers plan modern slavery act reform to stop system being 'abused'
by David Wilcock, Deputy Political Editorand Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonlineand Harriet Line, Deputy Political Editor For The Daily Mail
Ministers are drawing up plans to deport thousands of Albanian asylum seekers almost immediately after they arrive in a bid to ease the Channel migration crisis.
They want to avoid giving those who fail to be granted asylum having time to launch an appeal against the decision by shipping them back to eastern Europe 'within days'. Currently the legal process means that arrivals have to be put up in hotels at huge cost to the taxpayer because they can only be held briefly in arrival centres like Manston.
Another proposal being examined is toughening up the Modern Slavery Act, which ministers say has become the 'biggest loophole' in the immigration system. Home Office figures show the number of Albanian migrants claiming to be victims of modern slavery is set to double this year to 5,000.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the Telegraph that Albanians were 'abusing' the act and delaying deportation attempts. By paying people-smuggling gangs to get them to the UK, up to two per cent of all Albanian men have either attempted a Channel crossing or are thinking of doing so.
So far this year, more than 12,000 Albanians have illegally crossed the Channel into Britain - 10,000 of whom were single, adult men.
However, experts last night warned that attempts to remove arrivals before the legal process was complete would break international law. One told the Times: 'How can you exercise your appeal rights if you're not in the UK? It would be extrajudicial, and contravene rights under the Refugee Convention.'
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