 published the results of its 2021 census data on migration today which revealed that one in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK. This equates to an increase of 2.5 million since 2011, from 7.5 million (13.4 per cent) to 10 million (16.8 per cent). However, the data also show that the majority of this increase was driven by record numbers of people who were born in Romania moving to the UK - with the numbers increasing by 576 per cent since the previous census, from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021. This means that Romanians have entered the top five foreign-born nationals for the first time; the ONS estimated that in mid-2021 that there were 313,000 in England - up from just 80,000 in 2011. The ONS said that the record numbers were due to changing legislation, saying: 'This increase was the highest out of any country and is driven by working restrictions for Romanian citizens being lifted in 2014.' Chris Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) responded to the figures saying that they are 'not a massive surprise'. 'Everyone knew that once access was granted that people would come in very large numbers, it was bound to happen. 'A lot of people don't understand - with the current channel crossings - that England is a more desirable place to live than many countries in Europe. 'We have a reasonably flexible labour market, we have the English language - people don't want to be trying to learn Finnish or Swedish if they already speak a bit of English, even the Premiership is a draw, and we haven't got ID cards. 'We've also had pretty low unemployment and we've needed people to fill these jobs and, now, we have a shortage - largely attributable to Brexit. 'Now we have a huge chunk of the Romanian popu){kind=link}
The 2021 census data on migration shows one in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK, up by 2.5million in a decade
The UK’s population of foreign-born nationals increased by 2.5 million people in a decade – driven by a rise of half-a-million Romanians, the census has revealed.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the results of its 2021 census data on migration today which revealed that one in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK. This equates to an increase of 2.5 million since 2011, from 7.5 million (13.4 per cent) to 10 million (16.8 per cent).
However, the data also show that the majority of this increase was driven by record numbers of people who were born in Romania moving to the UK – with the numbers increasing by 576 per cent since the previous census, from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021.
This means that Romanians have entered the top five foreign-born nationals for the first time; the ONS estimated that in mid-2021 that there were 313,000 in England – up from just 80,000 in 2011.