Changing face of nation revealed in Census

Foreign-born people now make up 13 per cent of the population in England and Wales, rising from 4.6m in 2001, or nine per cent of the population, to 7.5m last year. Just over half of the foreign-born population, or 3.8m, arrived in the past 10 years.

During the same period, there was a fall of nearly seven per cent in the number of people classifying their ethnic group as white British.

In London, the most ethnically-mixed area of the country, more than one in three of the population, or 37 per cent, is now foreign-born, and the proportion of the population which classifies itself as white British has fallen below half, to 45 per cent, for the first time.

The statistics from the 2011 Census, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows an increase of nearly 600,000 in the number of people classifying themselves as of mixed ethnicity to more than 1.2m in 2011.

The figures also show a rise of more than 6m people who said they were of “no religion” and a fall in just over 4m in those who classified themselves as Christian during the past 10 years.

Christianity remains the largest religious group at 33.2m, 
or around six in 10 of the population, but around one in four people in England and Wales now classify themselves as having no religion.

The figures also show a 1.2m rise in the number of Muslims in England and Wales to 2.7m, or nearly five per cent of the population.

The figures also reflected the expansion of the European Union, with Poland second in the top 10 countries of birth outside the UK in 2011 – having not made the list in 2001, reflecting its accession to the European Union in 2004.

India and Pakistan remained in the top three countries of birth outside the UK in 2011.

The largest rise in ethnic group over the last decade was seen in the white other category, where an increase of 1.1m, to 2.5m, was recorded, reflecting more than 500,000 Poles who migrated into England and Wales during these years, the ONS said.

There was a decline of 400,000 in the number of people describing themselves as white British, with this group now making up 80 per cent of the population, compared with 87 per cent in 2001.

The census showed that four per cent of households had no usual residents who spoke English as their main language.

Other figures showed 105,000 people reported that they were in a civil partnership in 2011 and the proportion of married people stood at 47 per cent in 2011, 
compared with 51 per cent in 2001.

The figures also show that since 2001, the proportion of people owning properties through a mortgage or loan decreased from 39 per cent to 33 per cent, reflecting a growing trend of people unable to get their foot on the property ladder.

Campbell Robb, of the charity Shelter, said: “These figures confirm that home ownership is slipping further and further out of reach, no matter how hard people work or save.

“This means young people are living at home well into their 30s, desperate to get on in life but unable to afford a place of their own.

“Today’s broken housing market isn’t the result of the credit crunch or mortgage lending, but decades of underinvestment in building the affordable homes we need.”

The figures on religion were seized upon by secular campaigners who had urged people to tick the “no religion” box when they filled out the census.

British Humanist Association chief executive Andrew Copson said it was a really significant cultural shift. “Religious practice, identity, belonging and belief are all in decline in this country, and non-religious identities are on the rise,” he said.

But the Rev Arun Arora, for the Church of England, said: “England remains a country where the majority of the nation actively identifies the role that faith plays in their life.

“Clearly, we welcome the fact that Christianity remains the most populous faith in England – with six in 10 people identifying themselves as Christian.”