Chinese pip Indians to become largest short-term stayers in England and Wales

There were 136,000 non-UK-born short-term residents in England and Wales, of which 33 per cent were aged 20 to 24 years

• Pramod Thomas
• 22 March, 2023

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By: Pramod Thomas

China has overtaken India as the most common country of birth for non-UK-born short-term (under 12 months) residents in England and Wales, according to the latest data released on Wednesday (22).

The changing picture of short-term international migration, England and Wales, report from the Office for National Statistics has said that Romania was the third most common country of birth for such residents now, though the country was not present in the top ten in 2011.

According to the report, which compared census data from 2011 to 2021, 21 per cent of short-term residents came from China, followed by India (10 per cent) and Romania (5 per cent).

India, China and the US were the most common countries of birth for non-UK-born short term residents in England and Wales in 2011.

The report noted that India and Pakistan were ranked highly for both short term residents and usual residents, with India being the most common for usual residents and Pakistan being the third. As for non-UK-born short-term resident, India came in at second and Pakistan at fourth.

The ONS data revealed that India was the most common country of birth for economically active (active participants in the labour market) non-UK-born short-term residents (14 per cent) in 2021, followed by Romania (11 per cent), Poland (6 per cent) and Pakistan (4 per cent). Other countries in the top 10 include Bulgaria, China and Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the proportion of economically active short-term residents born in Poland decreased in 2021 (5 per cent) compared with 2011 (8 per cent), while the proportion born in France fell from 6 per cent to 3 per cent.

Romanian-born residents accounted for 10 per cent of economically active short-term residents, compared with 3 per cent in 2011, while in 2021 Bulgaria became the fifth most common country of birth in this group.

According to the report, China has the large proportion of economically inactive student group (44 per cent), followed by Hong Kong and India (5 per cent) in 2021. The only change in this category last year was the Cyprus replaced Pakistan in the top 10.

Manchester most preferred area

The ONS report found out that Manchester was the local authority with the most non-UK-born short-term residents, with 5,420 people (0.9 per cent of Manchester’s total population). This was followed by Birmingham (4,110) and Coventry (3,260). In Wales, Cardiff was the local authority with the most non-UK-born short-term residents at 2,045 (0.6 per cent of total population).

The top 15 local authorities contained 43,315 non-UK-born short-term residents, accounting for nearly a third of the total in England and Wales.

London accounted for the highest percentage of non-UK-born short-term residents (29 per cent), followed by south east (14 per cent) and north west (11 per cent).

There were 136,000 non-UK-born short-term residents recorded by Census 2021, 45 per cent were men and 55 per cent were women, while a third (33 per cent) were aged between 20 and 24 years.

Compared with the 2011 Census, the proportion of non-EU-born residents rose from 65 per cent to 75 per cent.

The report revealed that wholesale and retail and repair of motor vehicles was the most common industry among all non-UK-born short-term residents in employment. This was followed by human health and social work activities.