Census sensationalism: Latest population data cues more media panic about immigration

Jill Rutter reports on the latest release of Census 2011 data - and the latest media panic about immigration.

Jill Rutter writes on migration issues and formerly worked at the Refugee Council and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Today saw a further release of 2011 census data (pdf) and, as with the previous releases, media coverage focused on international migration.

While the data was unsurprising and tallied with recent migration estimates from the Annual Population Survey (pdf), the BBC and much other media ran with an immigration story; equally interesting and important census data, for example, on religious affiliation and on the numbers of adults offering unpaid care, was forgotten in another panic about immigration.

The census release showed the overall population of England and Wales stood at 56.1 million in 2011; it was 52 million at census day in 2001. An estimated 55 per cent of this increase has been due to international migration, the rest due to increased longevity and a small increase in the birth rate.

The migration data from Census 2011 showed 13.3 per cent of the population of England and Wales had been born abroad, with just over 50 per cent of those born overseas having arrived in England and Wales since 2001. India, Poland, Pakistan, Ireland and Germany are the top five countries of birth for the overseas born population, although the size of the Ireland-born population has decreased since the 2001 census.

The new census data also gives local authority breakdowns (pdf) of the proportions of their populations born overseas.

As Map 1 shows, London local authorities are those with the highest proportions of overseas-born populations, with 36.7 per cent of resident Londoners being born overseas

Non-UK-born-population-as-a-percentage-of-all-usual-residents
…the former coalfield areas and many deprived urban local authorities in the north east and Liverpool, meanwhile, tend to have the lowest proportions of the overseas-born, with Blaenau Gwent in south Wales the lowest at 2.2 per cent of the total population.

Census data, based on the total population, is used to reconfigure future population projections. The later data is then used to calculate mid-year population estimates until the next census, figures which are then used to calculate the amount of much non-targeted revenue funding for local authorities, the police and many other public services.

In the last ten years, particularly after the arrival of new migrants from eastern Europe, there was a great deal of criticism of the Office for National Statistics for the methodology it used to calculate mid-year population estimates, with some local authorities arguing ONS under-counted migrants, thus depriving them of revenue funding.

However, Census 2011 shows that outside London there is generally a good match between census data and mid-year population estimates. The view that local authorities are being under-paid as a result of large-scale population enumeration is not borne out in the statistics.

Census 2011 also shows local authorities are becoming more super-diverse, with many more migrant groups represented in local populations. In the past, the UK’s migrant populations comprised a small number of large groups, predominately from the UK’s former colonies in south Asia and the Caribbean.

Today, many parts of urban Britain manifest super-diversity where many different nationalities and ethnic groups live side-by-side and also differ in relation to their length of residence in the UK; qualifications; skills; and needs. Super-diversity demands much more knowledge by those who work with migrants in schools and colleges and other public services and requires different approaches to integration.

Super-diversity can also make it difficult to pick up on patterns of inequality, as the ethnicity categories used to monitor patterns of inequality are too broad to pick up on differences. For example, the category ‘Black African’ aggregates English-speaking Nigerians, who usually come to the UK to work, with Somalis, who have mostly arrived in the UK as refugees. We need new ways of picking up on patterns of inequality, perhaps using the extended ethnicity codes used by some schools.

But perhaps the most important issue raised by today’s release was that Census 2011 confirms global migration trends. Almost all western European countries have seen increased immigration over the last 15 years. Globally, too, more people are on the move – to work and to study – and migrants tend to gravitate to growing economies.

Whatever policy changes this government introduces, immigration into the UK is likely to remain at its present levels in the foreseeable future. We need to learn to accept this; in this modern globalised world migration is the norm not the exception.

55 Responses to “Census sensationalism: Latest population data cues more media panic about immigration”

  1. Newsbot9

    Yes, I’m sure you “debated” with your fellow creationists, generating your needed positive feedback in your closed-minded circles.

    Never mind the fact that China under-reports crime. Never mind that you think Canada and Australia are hell-holes. Never mind that overall crime rates are very low in the West, historically.

    And no, I’m not interested in looking up unrelated statistics for your gratification, typical entitlement syndrome. The fact remains, far right fanatics like you are a major cause of crime, and by your own logic you need to leave the country. Now.

  2. Anon

    “the truth” is obviously a little… ahem… misguided. It took all of three words (“our culture destroyed”) to establish that. However, I thought this story missed a trick. News is about change, and as a piece covering media reaction to the census data I thought it missed the single most surprising change. Why no mention of The Sun’s front page? You talk about a media frenzy and panic etc. You would be forgiven for expecting panic/hysteria from The Sun but instead it ran a positive front page headline (“We Are The World”) about an increase in immigration. Panic? Or simply a story about the changing face of Britain? I was pleasantly surprised by the paper taking that angle. Not even worth a mention?

    http://twitpic.com/bl5xra

  3. the truth

    So I tell you I am an atheist and you think i am a creationist…. You say the right wing commit a major amount of crime yet refuse to supply stats to back up that baseless stereotype. I am however surprised to read that you are Jewish. You must be dismayed and up in arms about the apartheid in Israel. Blacks in segregated schools, blacks forced to take birth control to stop them breeding and even racist bus drivers refusing to carry black passengers. I am hugely impressed that you embrace multi culturalism and will marry outside of your religion and send your kids to mixed race schools unlike most jews. It must be very hard to go against your cultural norms and be so multi cultural. Are you campaigning for immigrants to be allowed to enter Israel freely instead of being put in a jail on the border for four years before being kicked out back where they came? You truly are a inspiration. Or do you not practice what you preach?

  4. Newsbot9

    Nope, I’m using your words as you have mine. And of course you can’t do the basics of research into crime statistics.

    And I’m not either pro-apartheid or a cultural imperialist. But it’s true, crime-committing immigrants like you should be shipped home at the end of their sentences.

    What I preach, of course, is tolerance of the law abiding, of growing together rather than growing apart and prosperity for workers rather than bankers.

    All anathema to you, I’m sure.

  5. the truth

    So you won’t marry outside of your religion or send your kids to mixed race schools then. And you won’t condemn Israel for it’s racist apartheid. It’s really odd how jews in organizations like common purpose and clearly yourself push so strongly for us to allow immigrants into our culture when you are worse than the white south africans. Why do you preach so strongly for something you would not apply to your own homeland? You should be enriching Israel with all those lovely immigrants you lock up and eject.

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