People born outside the UK
Last updated 30 September 2020 - see all updates
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate toPlace of birth (UK or non-UK) by ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate toEthnic groups by region of birth section
- 5. Navigate toTop 10 countries of birth outside the UK section
- 6. Navigate toData sources section
- 7. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- 13.4% of people in England and Wales (7.5 million people) were born outside the UK, according to the 2011 Census
- 1.2% of the population was born in India (694,000 people), 1.0% in Poland (579,000 people), and 0.9% in Pakistan (482,000 people)
- in the 10 years between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, the percentage of the non-UK born population that was born in Poland increased from 1.3% to 7.7% (from 58,000 to 579,000 people)
- 93.0% of people in the White ethnic group were born in the UK (the highest percentage out of all broad ethnic groups), followed by 80.6% of people with Mixed ethnicity, 46.9% of people in the Black group, 42.0% of people in the Asian group, and 29.8% of people in the Other ethnic group
- just over half (50.3%) of people in the broad Asian ethnic group were born in Asia or the Middle East, rising to 71.3% for people in the specific Chinese ethnic group
- 61.4% of people with Black African ethnicity were born in Africa, while 37.9% of those with Black Caribbean ethnicity were born in the Americas (including the Caribbean)
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
This data shows the country of birth for people living in England and Wales at the time of the 2011 Census.
The data only includes people who, at the time of the 2011 Census:
- had been living in the UK for at least 12 months
- had a permanent UK address but were living outside the UK for less than 12 months
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Read more about the 2011 Census.
Not included in the data
The data does not include households that did not answer the question about ethnicity.
94% of households completed the 2011 Census. Of those, 97% answered the question about ethnicity.
The data has been adjusted to take into account people and households who were not counted or counted incorrectly.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
Read the detailed methodology document for this data.
A person’s place of birth does not always indicate their ethnicity. There is often a connection, for example:
- most people born in India were in the Indian ethnic group in the 2011 Census
- most people born in Jamaica were in the Black Caribbean ethnic group
3. Place of birth (UK or non-UK) by ethnicity
|Mixed White/Black African||31.8||68.2|
|Mixed White/Black Caribbean||6.0||94.0|
Summary of People born outside the UK Place of birth (UK or non-UK) by ethnicity Summary
4. Ethnic groups by region of birth
|Ethnicity||Africa||Antarctica and Oceania (including Australasia)||Asia and Middle East||EU countries at 2001 Census||EU countries that joined between 2001 and 2011||Rest of Europe||Ireland||The Americas and the Caribbean|
|Mixed White/Black African||20.2||0.2||1.0||6.3||1.3||0.5||0.4||1.9|
|Mixed White/Black Caribbean||0.3||0.1||0.2||0.8||0.2||0.1||0.2||4.1|
Summary of People born outside the UK Ethnic groups by region of birth Summary
5. Top 10 countries of birth outside the UK
|Country||2001 Census||% non-UK born residents in 2001||2011 Census||% non-UK born residents in 2011||% all residents in 2011|
|Republic of Ireland||473,000||10.2||407,000||5.4||0.7|
|All other non-UK born||2,435,000||52.5||4,138,000||55.1||7.4|
|Total non-UK born||4,636,000||100.0||7,505,000||100.0||13.4|
Summary of People born outside the UK Top 10 countries of birth outside the UK Summary
6. Data sources
Type of data
Type of statistic
Office for National Statistics
Every 10 years
Purpose of data source
The Census is carried out every 10 years. Data from the March 2021 Census will not be available until 2022, so 2011 Census data is used instead.
Census data gives the government the information it needs to plan and run public services. It is also used as a benchmark for other statistical estimates, and it can help illustrate differences between various groups in the population.
7. Download the data
This file contains the following variables: Ethnic group, Country of birth, Value, Geography, Source, Period