Romanians make up fourth largest group of foreign-born residents in England and Wales
Romanians make up the fourth largest group of foreign-born residents in England and Wales, after the Indian, Polish and Pakistani people. The number of the former increased six-fold in the last decade.
One in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK, an increase of 2.5 million since 2011, from 7.5 million (13.4%) to 10 million (16.8%), according to data from UK’s 2021 census centralized by the Office for National Statistics.
While India remained the most common country of birth outside the UK, the number of people who were born in Romania grew by 576% since the previous census, from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.
The increase made Romania the fourth most common non-UK country of birth. The growth was the highest out of any country and is driven by working restrictions for Romanian citizens being lifted in 2014.
Italy also entered the top 10 non-UK countries of birth, rising to 277,000 from 135,000 between 2011 and 2021, a 106% increase. Meanwhile, the US and Jamaica fell out of the same top.
Polish (760,000, 1.3%), Romanian (550,000, 0.9%), and Indian (369,000, 0.6%) were the three most common non-UK passports held by usual residents in England and Wales in 2021.
In 2011, Polish passports had also been the most common non-UK passport and India was ranked third, whereas the second most common was Irish (ranked fifth in 2021).
Mirroring the trend from the country of birth, Romania also had the largest increase in non-UK passport holders in England and Wales, an increase of 477,000 (652%) between 2011 and 2021.
London has remained the region with the largest proportion of people born outside the UK.
(Photo source: Iakov Kalinin | Dreamstime.com)
