The number of people born outside the UK in each Birmingham neighbourhood, according to the census

The number of people living in the West Midlands who were born outside the UK has risen by 4% in the last decade, census data shows.

In 2011, there were 629,973 foreign-born people living in the region, this has risen to 902,438 as of 2021. In Birmingham, 238,313 foreign-born people lived in the city in 2011, this rose to 305,963 in 2021 - also an increase of 4%.

The number of people born outside the UK living in England and Wales has also risen by 2.5 million to 10 million in the past decade. People born outside the UK accounted for one in six (17%) of the 59.6 million residents of England and Wales in the 2021 census.

The number of people who listed Romania as their country of birth grew six-fold since the previous census, from 80,000 in 2011 to 539,000 in 2021. India remained the most common country of birth outside the UK in 2021, with more than 900,000 residents.

What does the data show for Birmingham?

In Birmingham, Digbeth has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents living in neighbourhoods in the city with 52.1% (3188) of the area’s residents being foreign-born. This was followed by Five Ways North, where 4245 (50.2%) of residents were foreign.

Handsworth West (50.1%) and Handsworth South (47.%) were next on the list followed by Central Birmingham, where 47.6% of residents were born in different countries.

See the figures in full nn the table below.

What’s been said about the figures?

The United States and Jamaica have both fallen out of the top 10 non-UK countries of birth. Census deputy director Jon Wroth-Smith said: “The census paints a picture of how the make-up of the population has changed in the past decade. That decade, of course, saw us leave the EU as well as live with the pandemic.

“While these events may have had an impact on people’s decisions or ability to migrate or travel at a given time, the census tells us about the change over the whole decade – who was living here in March 2021, compared with March 2011.

“We can see Romanians have been a big driver in this change, while there have also been increases due to migration from India, Pakistan and Poland, as well as southern European countries such as Italy.

“We can also see that migration in the year prior to census was lower in 2021 than it was in 2011. This is likely, in large part, due to the various travel restrictions in place during the coronavirus pandemic.”