Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom

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Southeast Asians have lived in the United Kingdom for several centuries, arriving from Southeast Asia and primarily originating from countries and territories such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Quick facts Total population, Regions with significant populations ...
Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom
Total population
England and Wales only:
267,288 – 0.45% (2021)[1] Does not include any Southeast Asians who may be in the 'Other Ethnic Group' as provided by the Office for National Statistics for the 2021 census.
Regions with significant populations
London, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh
Languages
Tagalog/Filipino – 60,899
Thai – 22,966
Vietnamese – 18,518
Malay – 8,014
Number of speakers in England and Wales as a main language, of all usual residents aged 3 and over, from the 2021 census.[2]
Religion
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Non-religious, others
Related ethnic groups
Asians
Close

Population history

Southeast Asian is not a category used in official statistics in the United Kingdom,[3] but has been considered as a particular ethnic identity,[4][5][6] including by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,[7] and Southeast Asians have been studied academically as a distinct group.[8][9]

The country had a small population of Filipinos, Singaporeans and Malaysians until the late 20th century. The number started to grow in the 1970s after the passage of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act and its amendment in 1968 which curtailed extensive rights to immigrate to the UK for Commonwealth citizens. This Act had the effect of more immigration from non-Commonwealth countries, such as the Philippines.[citation needed]

The 2001 UK census recorded 9,924 Burmese-born people residing in the United Kingdom.[10]

2021 Census

Country of birth

The figures below represent data collected for the 2021 United Kingdom census with the country as a reported birthplace recorded (i.e. does not include British born people of Southeast Asian origin). The census in Scotland was delayed for a year and took place in 2022.[11]

More information State/Territory, England (2021) ...
State/Territory  England
(2021)[12]		  Scotland
(2022)[13]		  Wales
(2021)[12]		 Northern Ireland
(2021)[14]		  United Kingdom
(2021/22)
 Philippines 149,474 6,245 5,542 3,701 164,962
 Malaysia 59,674 5,295 1,836 871 67,676
 Singapore 39,637 3,725 1,287 360 45,009
 Thailand 47,597 3,425 2,112 725 53,860
 Vietnam 36,442 1,135 772 237 38,586
 Indonesia 11,858 1,441 320 239 13,858
 Myanmar 10,410 392 214 48 11,064
 Brunei 4,350 390 163 24 4,927
 Cambodia 1,500 66 33 27 1,626
Other Southeast Asia 15,582 99 108 – 15,789
Total 376,524 22,213 12,348 6,232 417,317
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Ethnic group

More information Ethnic group, England (2021) ...
Ethnic group[a]  England
(2021)[15]		  Scotland
(2022)[16]		  Wales
(2021)[15]		 Northern Ireland
(2021)[17]		  United Kingdom
(2021/22)[b]
Filipinos 155,996 To be published,
only 2011 figures
available[18]		 6,142 4,449 166,587
Thai 38,279 1,683 373 40,335
Vietnamese 36,643 815 117 37,575
Malay 12,407 466 143 13,016
Burmese/Myanma 7,338 177 18 7,533
Indonesian 7,145 199 124 7,468
Total 257,808 TBC 9,482 5,224 272,514
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In media

In 2008, ABS-CBN reported that acting parts in the British film industry were rare for Southeast Asian British people.[19]

Subgroups

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    Only Southeast Asians who identified under the broad 'Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh' category are included. Those who identified themselves under the 'Other ethnic group' are excluded.
  2. [b]
    Excluding Scotland

References

External links

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