12 migration related insights from the Census 2021 for Yorkshire and Humber

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Contents

Introduction: 12 migration related insights from the Census 2021 for Yorkshire and Humber

A lot has happened since the last Census in 2011.

The war in Syria started, Croatia was included in the EU expansion states, travel and work restrictions for Bulgaria and Romania were lifted, a Roma community started to emerge, the European migrant crisis began with the body of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi washing up on a Turkish beach, Batley MP Jo Cox was murdered, relocation of local military staff from Iraq and Afghanistan commenced and a national referendum decided for the UK to withdraw from the EU.

In the interim survey data and government data sources have been used to evidence the changing demographics of the migrant population - but they either told the picture with low confidence, only told part of the story, or gave a high level national or regional snapshot.

So, the Census 2021 has long been awaited and on 2 November 2022 the ONS released the first set of Census 2021 migration related data. This briefing presents key insights from the data release about the migrant population in Yorkshire and Humber.

The Census doesn’t have a question asking people if they are a migrant, therefore this analysis mainly uses the non-UK country of birth indicator to measure migration - as a person’s place of birth doesn’t change while their nationality or passport held can.

Non-UK nationality and non-UK passport indicators can be used if the focus is to understand legal status or citizenship – these will not include people born outside the UK who have since gained nationality or citizenship. Furthermore, the non-White British ethnicity indicator can be used to understand cultural populations - this will include people who were born in the UK, have UK nationality or a UK passport. Lastly, the language indicators can be used to understand languages spoken and proficiency in English.

Previously, the migration indicator has been used to understand the population that moved to the UK in the last year, however as there were COVID-19 related travel restrictions in year prior to the census these results reflect an anomaly.

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One in nine residents of Yorkshire and Humber were born outside the UK

1 in 9 residents of Yorkshire and Humber were born outside the UK (622,300 people, 11.4% of the population). This is a 34% increase of 157,600 people since the 2011 census (464,700 8.8%).

While this increase may seem high it is a slowdown compared to the increase between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, where the non-UK born population grew by 78% (204,300 more people).

In between censuses population estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics are used to understand the changing size and characteristics of the migrant population and plan services. The non-UK born population in Yorkshire and Humber is around 100,000 larger than estimated by official statistics in June 2021.

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Most significant growth in the last decade was in the Romanian born population

The population born in Romania grew by 30,700 (1,374% increase) between 2011 and 2021 to 32,900 – reflecting migration trends after the uplifting of work restrictions for EU2 countries in 2014.

This was the largest country level increase between 2011 and 2021 making Romania the fourth largest country of birth – bringing it into the top 10 countries of birth for the first time.

The growth in the Romanian born population in the decade during EU2 travel changes was significant, however, it was smaller than the growth in the Polish born population in the decade during EU8 travel changes.

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Pakistan and Poland are still the main countries of birth and growth slowed down for both in the last decade

The main non-UK countries of birth in Yorkshire and Humber remain unchanged since the 2011 Census. Pakistan (100,200 people, 1.8% of the population) followed by Poland (70,800, 1.3%).

Higher growth between 2001 and 2011 was largely driven by growth in the population born in Poland (43,500 more people) and Pakistan (26,700 more people), but this has slowed down in the last decade to 22,900 more for Poland and 13,400 for Pakistan.

Growth in the Polish born population reflected migration trends post EU8 accession in 2004, while growth in the Pakistani born population reflected family reunification and student visa riles at the time.

India (37,200, 0.7%) remains to be the third largest country of birth with Romania now closely following. Similar to Pakistan and Poland, the population born in India has grown in the last decade (3,200 more people) but a slowdown compared to 2001 and 2011 (8,400 more people).

Interestingly, the Indian born population is larger than the Polish and Pakistani born population at a national level with India and Pakistan switching places, indicating a higher concentration of a Pakistani born population in Yorkshire and Humber.

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Growth increased for population born in Nigeria, Lithuania and eurozone affected countries in the last decade, while it slowed down for countries affected by humanitarian crisis and the population born in Germany, Ireland and Jamaica decreased

  • Nigeria (12,500 people, 0.2% of the population) entered the top 10 countries of birth for the first time in 2021 after two decades of consistent growth (4,900 more people between 2001 and 2011 and 6,200 more people between 2011 and 2021) .
  • After a 5,700 increase in population since 2011, Lithuania (11,600, 0.2%) moved into the top 10 of countries of birth in 2021 – alongside Romania and Nigeria. Country level data is not available for other EU expansion countries and country level data was not available for Lithuania in 2001.
  • The population born in Italy (11,000, 0.2%), Spain (7,500, 0.1%) and Portugal (6,000, 0.1%) had already seen some increase between the 2001 and 2011 census, however the population further increased between 2011 and 2021 – reflecting post eurozone crisis migration trends. Greece was also impacted by the financial crisis however country data is not available.
  • Growth slowed down in the latest decade for the population born in countries from which there are higher numbers of people seeking humanitarian protection such as Zimbabwe (10,600, 0.2%), Iraq (10,500, 0.2%), Iran (8,600, 0.2%), Hong Kong (6,800, 0.1%), Somalia (4,100, 0.1%), Afghanistan (3,800, 0.1%) and Sri Lanka (2,900, 0.1%). Country level data is not yet available for Syria or Ukraine and data is only reflective up to March 2021 so will not cover recent Afghan, Ukrainian or Hong Kong resettlements or relocations.
  • The in population born in Germany (20,600, 0.4%), Ireland (15,800, 0.3%) and Jamaica (4,900, 0.1%) has decreased over the decades reflecting the ageing of these historic migrant groups who may now have second or third generations born in the UK.
  • There is a sizable population born in China (15,300, 0.3%) and Bangladesh (11,100, 0.2%), but there hasn’t been significant increase for these groups since 2011. There was however a notable increase in the populaton born in China between 2001 and 2011.

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Largest non-UK born population is in Leeds, Bradford and Sheffield

The largest non-UK born population in Yorkshire and Humber is in Leeds (128,300 people, 15.8% of the population) followed by Bradford (101,900, 18.7%) and Sheffield (83,200, 15.0%).

Although Leeds has a larger non-UK born population the percentage of the population that are non-UK born is higher in Bradford. Similarly, although the non-UK born population is smaller in Kirklees (54,500, 12.6%), Hull (35,000, 13.1%), Doncaster (32,100, 10.4%) and York (21,900, 10.8%), the percentage of the population that are non-UK born is higher than 10%.

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After two decades of growth Leeds now has a larger non-UK born population than Bradford

The non-UK born population in Leeds has been growing at a higher rate for the last two decades (38,600 more people between 2001 and 2011 and 42,100 more people between 2011 and 2021), while growth in Bradford has been lower and has significantly slowed down in the last decade (34,400 more people between 2001 and 2011 and 12,300 more people between 2011 and 2021).

Likewise, growth is lower and has slowed down for Sheffield in the last decade (31,900 more people between 2011 and 2011 and 18,700 more people between 2011 and 2021).

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Growth slowed down for some local authorities in the latest decade while it continued for others

  • Growth slowed down in the last decade in Kirklees, North Yorkshire, York, Rotherham and Calderdale.
  • The non-UK born population has been growing at a higher rate for two consecutive decades in Hull, Doncaster and Wakefield. These local authorities have moved up in the Yorkshire and Humber ranking and now have a larger non-UK born population compared to York, Calderdale and East Riding of Yorkshire compared to 2001.
  • The non-UK population in Barnsley has grown more in the most last decade compared to 2001 and 2011.

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Non-UK born population was underestimated for around half of Yorkshire and Humber local authorities

The non-UK born population was underestimated for seven of the 15 Yorkshire and Humber local authorities, most notably for Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Doncaster, North Yorkshire, Rotherham and North East Lincolnshire.

On the other hand, there was an overestimation for Sheffield and Barnsley.

Estimates were close for six local authorities with a near exact estimate for Wakefield.

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Composition of the non-UK born population varies across local authorities

Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale have a larger share of a Pakistani born population while the share of the EU8 and EU2 born population is relatively small. Compared to England and Wales local authorities, Bradford has the second largest Pakistani born population and Kirklees has the fifth.

In contrast, North Yorkshire, Hull, Doncaster, Wakefield, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, Barnsley and North East Lincolnshire have a larger share of a Polish, Romanian, Lithuanian or other EU8 and EU2 born population.

Rotherham has a closer balance of the two groups as does Leeds, Sheffield and York albeit the share is smaller.

There is a more notable share of other country of birth groups such as China, Germany and United States in Leeds, Sheffield, North Yorkshire, York and East Riding of Yorkshire.

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Passport holders as a percentage of country of birth varies for different groups

There are some notable trends when looking at the percentage of people who still hold the passport of their country of birth, which resonate with the different stages of settlement or experiences of migration for different population groups.

For example, there were 100,200 people in Yorkshire and Humber born in Pakistan while there are only 23,200 Pakistani passport holders – indicating only 23% of people born in Pakistan still have a Pakistani passport and 77% may have gained a UK or some other passport. This is also true for other more established and settled migrant communities such as India, Germany, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Jamaica.

Furthermore, people born in countries affected by humanitarian crisis such as Somalia, Iraq and Iran and countries with single nationality rules such as Singapore were also less likely to hold a passport for the country they were born in.

On the other hand, there are more Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Lithuanian and Polish passport holders compared to the population born in those countries, which could indicate people born in other countries could have acquired these passports before coming to the UK.

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Ethnicity indicator reveals insights about population groups not identifiable by country of birth

There are some population groups that cannot be identified using the country of birth indicator either because the group doesn’t belong to one country such as Roma or Kurdish or because country level data is not available such as Eritrea. In these cases, the ethnicity indicator proves useful to evidence migrant populations.

The Roma category was included in the ethnicity indicator for the first time in the 2021 Census and there are 10,700 Roma people in Yorkshire and Humber, with the largest numbers in Sheffield (2,700 people), followed by Bradford (1,900) and Leeds (1,800). Notably, Sheffield has the largest Roma population of all England and Wales local authorities while Bradford and Leeds are also in the top 10 local authorities.

The Kurdish population (11,700) is slightly larger than the Roma population with the largest numbers in Leeds (3,300) followed by Sheffield (1,800), Kirklees (1,600) and Hull (1,400). Meanwhile, there are 2,600 Eritrean people in Yorkshire and Humber mostly concentrated in Leeds (1,400) and Sheffield (820).

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Majority of people whose main language is not English can speak English well

362,100 people in Yorkshire reported their main language was not English (6.8% of the population) of which 75% of people can speak English very well or well.

Meanwhile, 77,900 people cannot speak English well (21% of people whose main language is not English) and a further 14,300 people cannot speak English at all (4% of people whose main language is not English).

The largest population that cannot speak English well or at all is in Bradford (21,800), Leeds (14,900), Sheffield (11,000) and Kirklees (10,000). Although numbers are lower the share of population whose main language is not English and cannot speak English well or at all is relatively higher in Hull, North Lincolnshire, Calderdale and Rotherham.

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