Revealed: the areas of Britain with the largest migrant influx
Number of Romanians in UK overtakes Irish as one town records tenfold rise in foreign-born residents
THE proportion of immigrants in some parts of the UK has risen by as much as tenfold over the past decade, according to an analysis that identifies the areas most affected by migration.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that between 2007 and 2017, more than 70 areas, two thirds of which voted for Brexit, had their proportion of foreign-born residents rise by at least six percentage points.
The figures also showed that the number of Romanian nationals living in the UK had overtaken the number of Irish nationals for the first time.
Romanian is now the second most common non-british nationality, after the number living in the UK rose by 25 per cent to 411,000.
Polish remains the most common non-british nationality, with an estimated one million Poles in the UK. Romanian has overtaken both Irish and Indian to move from fourth to second place in the list.
The ONS analysis disclosed that the area with the biggest rise in foreignborn residents was Boston, Lincs, where the proportion increased from 3 per cent in 2007 to 29 per cent last year. In Harlow, Essex, the proportion of non-uk nationals rose from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, while in Barking and Dagenham it increased from 24 per cent to 38 per cent.
In east Staffordshire, the proportion of foreign-born residents rose by 13 percentage points, while in Northampton and Southampton the proportion was up 12 percentage points. Other areas with significant increases include Hounslow in west London, Warwick, Croydon and Bournemouth.
In parts of London, including Newham, Brent and Westminster, more than half of residents are now foreignborn. The ONS figures showed the total number of non-british nationals living in the UK in 2017 was 6.2million, up 4 per cent on the previous year’s total of six million. This is a smaller rise than that recorded between 2015 and 2016, when the number rose by 8 per cent.
Nicola White of the ONS migration statistics division said: “NON-UK born and non-british populations continued to increase in 2017, as more people continued to come to the UK to live than move to live abroad for a year or more.
“Poland-born residents and Polish nationals were the most common populations from outside the UK. However, the largest increases in population were seen from those born in Romania and those with Romanian nationality.” The figures show that 3.8million of the 6.2million non-british nationals living in the UK in 2017 held EU nationality.
The ONS data is based on a survey of households and does not cover most people living in communal establishments, some NHS accommodation, or students living in halls of residence who have non-uk resident parents.
The total number of people residents not born in the UK – which includes those who have since taken British nationality – increased from 9.2million in 2016 to 9.4million in 2017.