The UK's foreign-born population: see where people live and where they're from

Find out how many of the UK's population were born outside the UK - and where they are
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UK's foreign-born population. Click image for graphic

Latest figures from the ONS show there are now 521,000 Polish-born residents of the UK - up from 75,000 in 2003.

It makes the Poles the biggest UK community by foreign nationality - and the second (after India) by country of birth. The figures came out as part of the comprehensive annual population survey, which (at least until the census results emerge next year) give us a real insight in the demographics of Britain.

Last week we mapped the different ethnic populations of England and Wales, these figures are a bit different. Obviously, all they comprise of are details of the country of birth and the passport each person holds. So, while Indian-born residents may be more likely to gain British nationality, people from Poland people wouldn't need to, as members of the European Union.

The figures also give a fascinating breakdown of the top foreign-born population for each region of the UK. They include details such as:

• The Phillipines is responsible for the fifth biggest foreign-born population in Wales - 6,000 people
• Germany is the fifth biggest foreign-born population in the UK, with 290,000 people
• The biggest percentage of foreign-born people in the UK is in Brent - 54.2%
• Polish-born residents are either the biggest or second biggest foreign-born populations in eight regions of the UK, and biggest in Scotland and Wales
• Since Poland and seven other central and Eastern European countries (collectively known as the A8) joined the EU in May 2004 around 69 per cent of all A8 citizens migrating to the UK have been Polish citizens
• London has 123,000 Polish-born residents, 24 per cent of the UK total

We've gone for country of birth rather than nationality on these pages because it gives a real sense of the patchwork nature of Britian today - but you could equally well do the same thing with country of nationality - and the full data is below.

There is huge variation across England and Wales - the graphic below shows the percentage of foreign-born population by different parts of the UK.

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We'd like to hear from you on this. Are you one of the 521,000 Poles living in the UK now, or do you come from the Philippines and live in Wales? How closely do the stats reflect your experience?

The full data is below. What can you do with it?

Data summary

Top foreign-born population by each region

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Rank in each area
Country
Area
Est number (000s)
1 India UK 684
2 Poland UK 521
3 Pakistan UK 419
4 Republic of Ireland UK 398
5 Germany UK 290
1 India NE 14
2 Germany NE 12
3 Poland NE 11
4 China NE 7
5 Pakistan NE 7
1 Pakistan NW 74
2 Poland NW 49
3 India NW 47
4 Republic of Ireland NW 42
5 Germany NW 19
1 Pakistan Yorks & Humb 68
2 India Yorks & Humb 40
3 Poland Yorks & Humb 37
4 Germany Yorks & Humb 21
5 Republic of Ireland Yorks & Humb 14
1 India E Mids 62
2 Poland E Mids 46
3 Germany E Mids 23
4 Republic of Ireland E Mids 22
5 Pakistan E Mids 17
1 Pakistan W Mids 84
2 India W Mids 83
3 Poland W Mids 47
4 Republic of Ireland W Mids 37
5 Jamaica W Mids 27
1 India East 49
2 Poland East 40
3 Republic of Ireland East 36
4 Germany East 29
5 United States of America East 27
1 India Lon 254
2 Poland Lon 123
3 Bangladesh Lon 116
4 Republic of Ireland Lon 108
5 Nigeria Lon 93
1 India S East 72
2 South Africa S East 63
3 Republic of Ireland S East 52
4 Poland S East 51
5 Germany S East 50
1 Poland S West 36
2 Germany S West 31
3 Republic of Ireland S West 23
4 India S West 23
5 South Africa S West 18
1 India Eng 643
2 Poland Eng 440
3 Pakistan Eng 398
4 Republic of Ireland Eng 340
5 Germany Eng 255
1 Poland Wales 14
2 India Wales 12
3 Germany Wales 11
4 Republic of Ireland Wales 9
5 Philippines Wales 6
1 Poland Scot 53
2 India Scot 27
3 Republic of Ireland Scot 23
4 Germany Scot 20
5 Pakistan Scot 16
1 Republic of Ireland N Ireland 26
2 Poland N Ireland 15
3 Lithuania N Ireland 6
4 Canada N Ireland 4
5 Slovakia N Ireland 4

Country of birth and country of nationality. Top countries

In 000s. Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Country
Country of birth
Nationality
India 684 324
Poland 521 545
Pakistan 419 158
Republic of Ireland 398 345
Germany 290 120
South Africa 236 107
Bangladesh 208 80
United States of America 197 143
Jamaica 155 48
Nigeria 154 96
Kenya 129 19
Zimbabwe 127 64
Philippines 120 75
Sri Lanka 117 45
France 116 115
Italy 113 103
China 111 102
Australia 111 76
Somalia 106 55
Portugal 86 101
Canada 83 55
Ghana 83 46
Lithuania 81 89
Hong Kong 78 14
Spain 71 71
Iran 70 35
New Zealand 70 48
Romania 68 64
Iraq 66 33
Turkey 64 39
Cyprus (EU) 59 13
Malaysia 57 33
Netherlands 56 50
Uganda 53  
Bulgaria 53 45
Afghanistan 52 33
Brazil 50 39
Slovakia 49 51
Mauritius 46 21
Singapore 41  
Nepal 41 40
Hungary 39 35
Latvia 39 38
Russia 38 28
Japan 38 35
Tanzania 36  
Thailand 33 26
Sweden 31 37
Greece 31 26
Zambia 29  
Czech Republic 29 33
Egypt 28  
Trinidad And Tobago 27  
Malta 25  
Austria 25 23
Belgium 24 17
Libya 23 36
South Korea 22 16
Denmark 21 21
Switzerland 20  

Non-UK born population by area

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Local auth
Region
UK-born
Non UK-born
EU-born
Non-EU born
% non UK-born
1 United Kingdom TOTAL 54,197 7,051 2,255 4,796 11.5
2 County Durham NE 486 22 8 15 4.3
3 Darlington NE 93 7 3 4 7.0
4 Hartlepool NE 89 2 1 1 2.2
5 Middlesbrough NE 128 9 3 6 6.6
6 Northumberland NE 294 12 6 7 3.9
7 Redcar & Cleveland NE 135 3 1 1 2.2
8 Stockton-on-Tees NE 184 7 2 5 3.7
9 Gateshead NE 179 11 6 4 5.8
10 Newcastle Upon Tyne NE 240 33 8 25 12.1
11 North Tyneside NE 188 10 4 6 5.1
12 South Tyneside NE 143 8 2 6 5.3
13 Sunderland NE 267 10 3 7 3.6
14 Blackburn with Darwen NW 118 21 3 17 15.1
15 Blackpool NW 130 6 2 4 4.4
16 Cheshire East NW 338 22 12 9 6.1
17 Cheshire West & Chester NW 311 15 10 5 4.6
18 Halton NW 116 4 3 1 3.3
19 Warrington NW 184 11 6 6 5.6
20 Cumbria NW 480 10 3 7 2.0
21 Bolton NW 235 26 5 22 10.0
22 Bury NW 169 12 3 8 6.6
23 Manchester NW 350 121 32 89 25.7
24 Oldham NW 194 24 3 21 11.0
25 Rochdale NW 178 26 7 19 12.7
26 Salford NW 199 23 10 13 10.4
27 Stockport NW 263 16 4 12 5.7
28 Tameside NW 200 14 5 9 6.5
29 Trafford NW 191 21 6 14 9.9
30 Wigan NW 297 9 4 5 2.9
31 Lancashire NW 1,080 75 31 44 6.5
32 Knowsley NW 146 3 1 2 2.0
33 Liverpool NW 395 33 10 23 7.7
34 Sefton NW 259 9 5 4 3.4
35 St. Helens NW 171 5 2 3 2.8
36 Wirral NW 296 9 5 4 3.0
37 Former county of Cheshire NW 648 37 23 14 5.4
38 East Riding of Yorkshire Y&H 320 11 5 5 3.3
39 Kingston Upon Hull, City of Y&H 234 23 12 11 8.9
40 North East Lincolnshire Y&H 149 6 3 3 3.9
41 North Lincolnshire Y&H 150 8 4 4 5.1
42 York Y&H 183 12 5 7 6.2
43 North Yorkshire Y&H 555 32 15 17 5.5
44 Barnsley Y&H 216 9 4 4 4.0
45 Doncaster Y&H 272 15 5 9 5.2
46 Rotherham Y&H 241 9 3 7 3.6
47 Sheffield Y&H 476 59 9 50 11.0
48 Bradford Y&H 423 77 17 60 15.4
49 Calderdale Y&H 189 13 5 8 6.4
50 Kirklees Y&H 367 35 6 29 8.7
51 Leeds Y&H 701 78 20 58 10.0
52 Wakefield Y&H 301 17 9 8 5.3
53 Derby E Mids 204 33 10 23 13.9
54 Leicester E Mids 199 96 16 80 32.5
55 Nottingham E Mids 235 59 13 46 20.1
56 Rutland E Mids 36 2 1 1 5.3
57 Derbyshire E Mids 737 21 12 9 2.8
58 Leicestershire E Mids 610 37 13 24 5.7
59 Lincolnshire E Mids 641 54 34 20 7.8
60 Northamptonshire E Mids 624 63 32 32 9.2
61 Nottinghamshire E Mids 726 45 19 26 5.8
62 Herefordshire, County of W Mids 168 10 6 3 5.6
63 Shropshire W Mids 275 14 7 7 4.8
64 Stoke-on-Trent W Mids 216 22 7 15 9.2
65 Telford & Wrekin W Mids 150 11 4 7 6.8
66 Staffordshire W Mids 791 27 15 12 3.3
67 Warwickshire W Mids 492 39 14 24 7.3
68 Birmingham W Mids 815 198 29 169 19.5
69 Coventry W Mids 255 54 15 39 17.5
70 Dudley W Mids 288 16 4 11 5.3
71 Sandwell W Mids 242 46 10 36 16.0
72 Solihull W Mids 191 15 4 10 7.3
73 Walsall W Mids 233 20 4 16 7.9
74 Wolverhampton W Mids 196 38 5 32 16.2
75 Worcestershire W Mids 521 31 17 14 5.6
76 Bedford East 132 22 7 16 14.3
77 Central Bedfordshire East 236 20 8 12 7.8
78 Luton East 136 58 15 42 29.9
79 Peterborough East 133 30 15 15 18.4
80 Southend-on-Sea East 151 13 5 9 7.9
81 Thurrock East 138 13 4 10 8.6
82 Cambridgeshire East 534 67 27 40 11.1
83 Essex East 1,301 100 33 67 7.1
84 Hertfordshire East 956 118 38 80 11.0
85 Norfolk East 795 53 23 29 6.2
86 Suffolk East 663 47 16 31 6.6
87 Former county of Bedfordshire East 368 42 15 27 10.2
88 Camden Lon 145 96 34 62 39.8
89 City of London Lon - - - -  
90 Hackney Lon 140 78 19 59 35.8
91 Hammersmith & Fulham Lon 112 61 18 42 35.3
92 Haringey Lon 134 94 31 63 41.2
93 Islington Lon 143 53 17 36 27.0
94 Kensington & Chelsea Lon 95 88 29 59 48.1
95 Lambeth Lon 180 98 30 68 35.3
96 Lewisham Lon 176 92 20 73 34.3
97 Newham Lon 123 128 30 98 51.0
98 Southwark Lon 189 99 25 73 34.4
99 Tower Hamlets Lon 135 95 13 81 41.3
100 Wandsworth Lon 185 105 31 75 36.2
101 Westminster Lon 116 131 36 95 53.0
102 Barking & Dagenham Lon 118 54 12 43 31.4
103 Barnet Lon 218 117 36 81 34.9
104 Bexley Lon 200 27 9 18 11.9
105 Brent Lon 125 148 40 109 54.2
106 Bromley Lon 270 38 7 31 12.3
107 Croydon Lon 253 95 23 72 27.3
108 Ealing Lon 174 141 33 108 44.8
109 Enfield Lon 195 97 24 73 33.2
110 Greenwich Lon 152 73 20 53 32.4
111 Harrow Lon 120 99 24 75 45.2
112 Havering Lon 216 18 4 15 7.7
113 Hillingdon Lon 184 73 19 54 28.4
114 Hounslow Lon 135 92 20 73 40.5
115 Kingston upon Thames Lon 118 47 14 34 28.5
116 Merton Lon 123 84 26 59 40.6
117 Redbridge Lon 174 91 17 74 34.3
118 Richmond upon Thames Lon 136 46 14 32 25.3
119 Sutton Lon 156 36 6 29 18.8
120 Waltham Forest Lon 148 79 25 53 34.8
121 Bracknell Forest SE 100 14 4 10 12.3
122 Brighton & Hove SE 220 37 14 23 14.4
123 Isle of Wight SE 131 7 3 4 5.1
124 Medway SE 234 17 6 12 6.8
125 Milton Keynes SE 189 47 12 35 19.9
126 Portsmouth SE 177 21 7 15 10.6
127 Reading SE 115 32 9 23 21.8
128 Slough SE 80 42 10 31 34.4
129 Southampton SE 201 37 15 22 15.5
130 West Berkshire SE 141 13 5 9 8.4
131 Windsor & Maidenhead SE 122 22 7 14 15.3
132 Wokingham SE 144 18 5 12 11.1
133 Buckinghamshire SE 432 57 21 36 11.7
134 East Sussex SE 473 30 12 17 6.0
135 Hampshire SE 1,171 105 32 73 8.2
136 Kent SE 1,298 104 38 66 7.4
137 Oxfordshire SE 554 80 22 58 12.6
138 Surrey SE 955 155 42 113 14.0
139 West Sussex SE 704 72 30 42 9.3
140 Bath & North East Somerset SW 168 14 5 8 7.7
141 Bournemouth SW 142 19 9 10 11.8
142 Bristol, City of SW 377 48 19 29 11.3
143 Cornwall SW 514 18 8 9 3.4
144 North Somerset SW 195 12 6 6 5.8
145 Plymouth SW 238 14 6 8 5.6
146 Poole SW 128 10 4 5 7.2
147 South Gloucestershire SW 235 21 11 10 8.2
148 Swindon SW 175 21 8 14 10.7
149 Torbay SW 124 7 4 3 5.3
150 Wiltshire SW 412 36 19 17 8.0
151 Devon SW 711 36 12 24 4.8
152 Dorset SW 386 17 7 10 4.2
153 Gloucestershire SW 538 39 18 20 6.8
154 Somerset SW 488 34 25 8 6.5
155 Isle of Anglesey Wales 66 2 1 1 2.9
156 Gwynedd Wales 112 5 1 3 4.3
157 Conwy Wales 105 5 2 3 4.5
158 Denbighshire Wales 93 4 1 3 4.1
159 Flintshire Wales 143 6 4 2 4.0
160 Wrexham Wales 125 7 4 3 5.3
161 Powys Wales 127 5 3 3 3.8
162 Ceredigion Wales 75 3 2 1 3.8
163 Pembrokeshire Wales 112 6 3 3 5.1
164 Carmarthenshire Wales 173 7 2 4 3.9
165 Swansea Wales 211 16 5 12 7.0
166 Neath Port Talbot Wales 132 4 3 2 2.9
167 Bridgend Wales 130 5 2 3 3.7
168 Vale of Glamorgan Wales 118 7 2 4 5.6
169 Cardiff Wales 288 37 9 28 11.4
170 Rhondda, Cynon, Taff Wales 227 4 1 3 1.7
171 Merthyr Tydfil Wales 53 2 1 1 3.6
172 Caerphilly Wales 167 4 3 2 2.3
173 Blaenau Gwent Wales 67 1 1 - 1.5
174 Torfaen Wales 88 2 1 1 2.2
175 Monmouthshire Wales 84 4 1 2 4.5
176 Newport Wales 129 10 4 7 7.2
177 England TOTAL 44,891 6,472 1,987 4,485 12.6
178 Wales TOTAL 2,825 147 56 91 4.9
179 Scotland TOTAL 4,810 331 146 185 6.4
180 Northern Ireland TOTAL 1,671 101 66 35 5.7

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Migration graphic

UK's foreign-born population