Ten million people who were born outside the UK are now living in England and Wales, an increase of 2.5 million in the past 10 years. The newly released data comes from the 2021 Census, a snapshot of who is living where.
The increase has largely been driven by a huge increase in Romanians. Figures released on November 2 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed a 576% rise in residents who were born in Romania – from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.
The large increase in the number of those born in Romania followed the lifting of working restrictions across the European Union in 2014. India remained the most common country of birth outside the UK – with those 925,000 people making up 1.5% of the population.
The data showed those who listed Ireland as their country of birth declined. In 2011, the figure was 407,000, but it fell to 325,000 in 2021.
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.”
