Romanians the fourth most common foreigners in UK

ROMANIA has jumped from the 86th to the fourth most common country of foreign birth in the space of 20 years, census data show.

The surge in East European migration to the UK has also meant Poland jumped to second in the table, from 18th in the 2001 census, just behind firstplaced India. Ireland has slipped from first place in 2001 to fifth in 2021.

Among the biggest falls are Commonwealth countries with Australia, Canada, Jamaica and Kenya seeing sharp drops while China has risen to 12th place. European nations such as Spain and Portugal – which have, until Brexit, enjoyed decades of free movement into the UK – have also increased.

The analysis of the 2021 census has been released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing how the top non-uk countries of birth in England and Wales have changed in recent decades.

Romania, ranked 86th in 2001, climbed to 26 in 2011, before jumping to fourth place in 2021. Nigeria is up from 14th to eighth. But Jamaica has fallen out of the top 10, dropping from sixth place in 2001 to 20th in 2021, along with the United States (from seventh to 11th) and Kenya (ninth to 21st).

The census takes place across the UK every 10 years. The data also provides an insight into the employment status of over-16s who were born outside the UK, or who do not hold British passports.

There were “high rates of employment” at the 2021 census for people born in parts of eastern Europe, as well as Antarctica and Oceania, which includes Australia and New Zealand.

The rate stood at 80 per cent for people from Bulgaria and Romania, and 79 per cent for people from the group of countries known as the EU8: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. For people both in Antarctica and Oceania the rate was 75 per cent.

All of these figures are higher than that for people born in the UK (56 per cent).