1 in 6 people in England, Wales born abroad, mostly India: Census
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Nov, 2022 11:59 AM
London, Nov 8 (IANS) India was found to be the most common country of birth for one in six, or nearly 10 million, people in England and Wales, according to a report released by the UK's Office for National Statistics.
The report, "International Migration, England and Wales: Census 2021", said that 16.8 per cent of residents were born abroad, up from 13.4 per cent a decade earlier.
The number of foreign-born residents increased by 2.5 million over the decade to 10 million.
India was the most common country of origin, accounting for 920,000 people, which is 1.5 per cent of the usual resident population, the 2021 census showed.
The three most common non-UK countries of birth for usual residents in 2021 were India, followed by Poland, which increased to 743,000 (1.2 per cent), up from 579,000 in 2011; and Pakistan, which increased to 624,000 (1 per cent), up from 482,000 in 2011.
The report comes at a time when the UK has been under duress over record number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats and arriving in Britain.
Migration led to a 6.3 per cent rise in the population between 2011 and 2021, the report said.
The figures also showed that 5.9 million people, or 9.9 per cent of the population, held a non-UK passport.
London continued to be the region with the largest proportion of people born outside the UK, rising from 36.7 per cent in 2011 to 40.6 per cent of the city's population.
The figures for Wales and North East England were less than 7 per cent.
The Biden administration has kept in place travel restrictions that have severely curtailed international trips to the U.S., citing the spread of the delta variant of the virus. Under the rules, non-U.S. residents who have been to China, the European Schengen area, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa and India in the prior 14 days are prohibited from entering the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control last week warned the Delta variant of the virus is so contagious, vaccinated people who do get infected could be just as big a risk to others as people who aren't vaccinated.
The new requirement, which will be phased in over several weeks in August and September, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant.
The findings have the potential to upend past thinking about how the disease is spread. Previously, vaccinated people who got infected were thought to have low levels of virus and to be unlikely to pass it to others. But the new data shows that is not the case with the delta variant.
President Joe Biden is calling on states and local governments to join those that are already handing out dollars for shots. New York, the nation's biggest city, started doling out $100 awards on Friday.
