Country of birth

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Around one in four (39%) of Waltham Forest’s residents were born outside of the UK. A similar proportion of Londoners were born outside the UK (41%), which is considerably higher than the England average (17%).

Chart for Population by country of birth

Source: Office for National Statistics – Census 2021 Data. Date accessed: 09 March 2023.

Around one in five residents (19%) were born in Europe (52,000 people in total). The number of European-born residents increased by 30%, from 40,000 to 52,000 since the 2011 Census. Around 26,000 residents were born in the Middle East and Asia (9%); 17,000 were born in Africa (6%), and 11,000 were born in the Americas and the Caribbean (4%).

Source: Office for National Statistics – Census 2021 Data. Date accessed: 09 March 2023.

Table 1. Waltham Forest residents by country of birth, Census 2021

Continent	World region	Count	Percentage
Europe	United Kingdom	171,100	61.5%
	EU (from before March 2011)	12,800	4.6%
	EU (from after March 2011)	28,800	10.3%
	Pakistani	28,700	10%
	Rest of Europe	10,600	3.8%
Africa	North Africa	2,500	0.9%
	Central and Western Africa	6,700	2.4%
	South and Eastern Africa	7,500	2.7%
Middle East and Asia	Middle East	1,300	0.5%
	Eastern Asia	1,800	0.6%
	Southern Asia	19,800	7.1%
	South-East Asia	2,800	1.0%
	Central Asia	200	0.1%
The Americas and the Caribbean	North America	1,600	0.6%
	Central America	100	0.0%
	South America	3,100	1.1%
	The Caribbean	6,200	2.2%
Antarctica and Oceania	Antarctica and Oceania	1,600	0.6%
Total	All usual residents	278,400	100.0%

Source: Office for National Statistics – Census 2021. Data from https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021. Date accessed: 09 March 2023.

Pakistan and Romania are the top two non-UK countries of birth for Waltham Forest residents (slightly over 11,000 residents were born in each country).

Compared to the 2011 Census, the largest increase was in the number of Romanian-born residents (156% increase from 4,200 to 11,000 residents in 2021), whereas the number of Polish-born residents declined by 33% compared to 2011 (from 8,200 to 5,500).

Around 15% of Waltham Forest residents (40,000 in total) have arrived in the UK between 2011 and 2021. Of those who arrived between 2011 and 2021, majority were born in the other European countries (68%); 15% in the Middle East and Asia (predominantly Southern Asia); 8% in Africa; and 7% in the Americas and the Caribbean countries. Around 20,000 Waltham Forest residents had lived in the UK less than five years at the time of the 2021 Census.