(Bloomberg) --

The foreign-born population of England and Wales rose sharply in the past decade with an increase in arrivals from Romania, India and Poland, official data showed. 

Migration drove a 6.3% rise in the population between 2011 and 2021, according to data from the most recent census conducted last year. The Office for National Statistics said that 16.8% of residents were born abroad, up from 13.4% a decade earlier.

The figures are almost certain to fuel divisions over immigration in the wake of Britain leaving the European Union. While some in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government want strict limits on the number of people coming to the UK, many others say a looser regime is needed to boost the struggling economy and ease labor shortages holding back companies is sectors such as hospitality.

“Our attitudes towards the consequences of immigration are now much more favorable than they were in 2016 and certainly much more favorable a year ago,” John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde and Britain’s most prominent electoral analyst, told reporters on Wednesday. “The majority of people now think immigration is good for the economy, and it’s good for our cultural life.”

Record numbers of people arriving in small boats to seek asylus has also roiled the political agenda after reports that Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s decision-making led to thousands of people being detained illegally at a migration center. 

Braverman sparked further backlash from opposition parties by describing people crossing the Channel to the UK as an “invasion.” Critics say that term is a reference to a far-right conspiracy theory that led to violence against immigrants around the world.

The number of foreign-born residents increased by 2.5 million over the decade. India was the most common country of origin, accounting for 920,000 people. But Romanians represented the biggest rise -- jumping to 539,000 last year from just 80,000 in 2011.

 

Braverman had also sparked a row during trade talks with India by expressing concern about loosening visa arrangements for the nation. 

The figures also showed 5.9 million people, or 9.9% of the population, held a non-UK passport. 

London is still the region of the country with the largest proportion of people born outside the UK, rising from 36.7% in 2011 to 40.6% of the city’s population. The figures for Wales and North East England were less than 7%.

 

--With assistance from Demetrios Pogkas, Andrew Atkinson and Kitty Donaldson.

(Adds charts, comment)

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.