Romanian has become the second most common non-British nationality in the UK, moving past Irish and Indian nationals, questioning predictions that Brexit would cause a decrease in the number of migrants from Eastern Europe. The Office of National Statistics released figures last week, showing that Romanian nationals living in the UK in 2017 was estimated to be 411,000. This is a jump of 25% on the previous year, and the largest increase for any country. With an estimated one million of the UK’s population in 2017, Polish nationals remain at the top of the list. About 350,000 Irish nationals live in the UK and India is at the fourth spot with 346,000 nationals as of 2017.
The ONS data also showed that London had the largest proportion of non-British nationals in 2017, with the highest numbers in the local authorities of Newham (38%), Westminster (36%) and Brent (34%). It added that all the regions in England are expected to get bigger with the east of the country due to rise 7.3% to 6.6 million over the decade. In the southwest there will be a 6.6% increase to 5.9 million.
Andrew Nash, an ONS population expert, said, “While the overall populations of all regions in England are projected to increase over the next decade, reasons for these increases vary greatly depending on where you live. For instance, projected population change in London is mainly caused by natural change — the difference between the number of births and deaths — and not migration”.
The ONS data is based on a survey of households which does not cover most people living in communal establishments, some NHS accommodation, or students living in halls of residence who have non-UK resident parents.
