Key findings

• • Half of the population born abroad and living in England and Wales arrived in the UK aged 15-29. This is an age when they are economically productive and are unlikely to require or be eligible for state benefits.

• • All ethnic groups in England and Wales have grown in size since 2001 through more births than deaths, apart from White British and White Irish groups. Most have also grown through net migration into England and Wales.

• • The excess of births over deaths is because minority ethnic groups have a young age structure, not because of high fertility.

• • The fertility of most groups has increased a little in the 2000s, but overall there is less difference in family size between ethnic groups than in past decades.

• • For most ethnic groups whose first major immigration to the UK was over a generation ago, growth through further immigration is not as much as their ‘natural’ growth within England and Wales through an excess of births over deaths.

  • – Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups have each grown by about 50 per cent during 2001-11, and mostly because more people have been born than have died.

  • – For the Black Caribbean group, whose main immigration to the UK was now 60 years ago, growth has been less than 5 per cent; it was almost entirely due to the excess of births over deaths rather than further immigration.

  • – The Indian group is an exception among established minority ethnic groups: it has grown through immigration during the period 2001-11 more than through an excess of births over deaths.

• • During the 2000s, the Other White (including most Eastern Europeans), Black African and Chinese ethnic groups added rapidly to their population from further immigration as well as from natural growth. Each grew between 70 and 100 per cent in total during the decade.

• • The ‘Mixed’ groups have a very young age structure. Their growth was mainly due to children born in the decade. A smaller but significant growth of about 25 per cent was through immigration.

• • The White Irish group in England and Wales reduced by 18 per cent over the decade, from an excess of deaths over births, from net emigration, and from a net movement out of the White Irish ethnic group largely to the White British group.