Indians, largest foreign-born group in London

PTI

LONDON: Over 2 lakh residents born in

India represent the largest foreign-origin group living in London, according to a latest study by Oxford University.

In new research from the Oxford University's Migration Observatory, 262,247 persons born in India were living in London in 2011, which represents 8.8 per cent of all foreign-born residents in London.

"Residents born in India represent the most numerous foreign-born group in London, followed by residents born in Poland and Ireland," said the report, which analyses the latest census data in Britain.

"This accounts for 37.8 per cent of all residents that had been born in India resident in England and Wales in 2011. Other important foreign-born groups in London, with more than 100,000 residents, include those born in Ireland (129,807), Nigeria (114,718), Pakistan (112,457) and Bangladesh (109,948)," added the Migration Observatory, which is a project of Oxford University's Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS).

The report also indicated that foreigners may outnumber UK-born Londoners within a few decades, sealing the city's reputation as a global melting pot of different cultures.

The number of London residents born overseas rose 54 per cent over the last 10 years and while foreigners comprised 27 per cent of London's population (1.94 million) in 2001, they made up 37 per cent (2.99 million) in 2011.

At the same time, the number of UK-born residents fell by 1 per cent.

"London's foreign-born population increased by 54 per cent since 2001, accounting for 105 per cent of the total population increase, as the UK-born population in London decreased in the decade", academics Anna Krausova and Carlos Vargas-Silva said in reference to their analysis.

Given current trends, the 'Sun' newspaper predicts that London could have slightly more than 7 million foreign residents and 5 million UK-born residents by 2031, without taking policy changes or other developments such as wars into account.

"Its pretty unlikely that we're going to see the same sort of flows. The rate has already changed. Net migration has been falling over the last two years," a spokesperson for the Oxford University Migration Observatory pointed out.

Migrants make up 13 per cent of the UK population, with 7.5 million in England and Wales and nearly 40 per cent living in London alone, the study found.

The capital's overall population grew 14 per cent in the decade to 2011 -- from 7.17 million to 8.17 million.

"This underlines the huge impact that mass immigration is having on our society," Migration Watch UK said.

Nearly 3.8 million people came to Britain between 2001 and 2011 -- more than the 3.7 million who came over the previous 50 years