Despite a post-Brexit vote fall in net-immigration, the foreign born and non-British population of the UK has continued to surge.
The non-UK born population of the nation is now 9.2 million, almost twice the population of Ireland, shooting up by seven per cent, from 8.6 million, between 2015 and 2016.
This means that around one in seven (14 per cent) of the usual resident population in the UK was born abroad, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
The number of those living in the UK who are not citizens is also on the rise, with one in 11 (9 per cent) having non-British nationality in 2016.
The non-British population surged from 5.6 million to 6.0 million (up 8 per cent) in just the 12 months between 2015 and 2016.
Poland is the most common non-UK country of birth and Polish the most common non-British nationality in the UK.
In 2016, the number of Polish nationals resident in the UK reached 1 million and around 911,000 residents were born in Poland.
Nicola White, of the Migration Statistics Unit at the ONS, said:
“The population of the UK continued to increase between 2015 and 2016, driven by overall significant increases in both the non-UK born and non-British national population of the UK.”
Of the 5.6 million UK residents in 2016 that were born outside of the EU, 3.1 million (55 per cent) held British nationality, 290,000 (5 per cent) held EU nationality, and 2.3 million (40 per cent) held non-EU nationality.
Of the 3.5 million born within the EU (not including UK-born), 525,000 (15 per cent) held British nationality, 3.0 million (84 per cent) held EU nationality, and 25,000 (1 per cent) held non-EU nationality.
London has the highest proportion of non-British nationals, with 23 per cent of those living in the capital being born in a foreign country.
Some boroughs have fewer Brits than others. In Kensington and Chelsea 37 per cent are non-British, 34 per cent in Brent and Westminster, and 33 per cent in Newham.
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