British diaspora

The British diaspora consists of people of British ancestry (and their descendants) who emigrated from the British Isles. The largest proportional concentrations of people of self-identified British descent in the world outside of the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories occur in New Zealand (59%),[8] Australia (46%),[9] Canada (31%),[10] the United States (11%)[6] and parts of the Caribbean. Those who do claim British ancestry form a sub-set of those who could claim British ancestry;[11] the British diaspora includes about 200 million people worldwide.[12]

Countries with significant British ancestry
Total population
Over 120 million[1]
Regions with significant populations
 United Kingdom51,736,290
(81.9% of population)[2]
 New Zealand2,425,278
(59.0% of population)[3]
 Australia10,764,870
(46.0% of population)[4]
 Canada10,753,945
(30.6% of population)[5]
 United States34,275,567
(10.7% of population)[6]
Languages
Predominantly English
Also: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Scots, Ulster Scots, Cornish, Manx, British Sign Language
Religion
Predominantly Christianity (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodism Methodist, Roman Catholic etc.)[7];Other

Additionally, countries with over 100,000 British expatriates include Spain, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, France, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates.[13][14]

History of British diaspora

Up to the 19th century

After the Age of Discovery, the various peoples of the British Isles, and especially the English, were among the earliest and by far the largest communities to emigrate out of Europe. Indeed, the British Empire's expansion during the first half of the 19th century saw an extraordinary dispersion of the British people, with particular concentrations in Australasia and North America.[15]

The British Empire was "built on waves of migration overseas by British people",[16] who left Great Britain, later the United Kingdom, and reached across the globe and permanently affected population structures in three continents.[15] As a result of the British colonisation of the Americas, what became the United States was "easily the greatest single destination of emigrant British", but in what would become the Commonwealth of Australia the British experienced a birth rate higher than anything seen before, which together with continuing British immigration resulted in a huge outnumbering of indigenous Australians.[15]

In colonies such as Southern Rhodesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jamaica, Barbados, British East Africa, and the Cape Colony, permanently resident British communities were established, and while never more than a numerical minority, these Britons exercised a dominant influence upon the culture and politics of those lands.[16] In Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, people of British origin came to constitute the majority of the population, contributing to these states becoming integral to the Anglosphere.[16]

The British not only emigrated to parts of the British Empire, but also settled in large numbers in parts of the Americas, particularly in the United States and in sizeable numbers in Mexico, Chile and Argentina.

The United Kingdom census, 1861 estimated the number of overseas British to be around 2.5 million. However, it concluded that most of these were "not conventional settlers" but rather "travellers, merchants, professionals, and military personnel".[15] By 1890, there were over 1.5 million further British-born people living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.[15]

British diaspora today

According to The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, there were 13.1 million British nationals living abroad in 2004–05. These figures are taken from the consular annual returns from overseas posts. There is no requirement for UK citizens to register with British missions overseas, so these figures are therefore based on the most reliable information that can be obtained, e.g. from host government official statistics.[17]

A 2006 publication from the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated that 5.5 million British-born people lived outside the United Kingdom.[14]

In terms of outbound expatriation, in 2009 the United Kingdom had the most expatriates among developed OECD countries, with more than three million British living abroad, a figure followed by Germany and Italy.[18] On an annual basis, emigration from Britain has stood at about 400,000 per year for the past 10 years.[19]

Living abroad as an expatriate can affect certain rights. In particular:

  • British expatriates can only vote in general elections if they have been on a British electoral register at some point in the past 15 years. Otherwise, they are not eligible to vote.[20]
  • The British Mental Health Act 1983 rules that persons resident abroad do not qualify as "nearest relative" of a person who is ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

British people by country

List of countries and territories by population of self-reported British ancestry

Country or territoryBritish ancestry% of population
Pitcairn Islands[21]49100%
United Kingdom[2]51,736,29082%
Falkland Islands[22]2,47480%
New Zealand[8]2,425,27859%
Norfolk Island[23]85749%
Australia[9]10,764,87046%
Canada[10]10,753,94531%
Cayman Islands[24]9,60030%
Gibraltar[25]9,10027%
Bermuda[26]15,70025%
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha[27]1,40825%
United States[6]34,275,56711%
The Bahamas[28]38,00010%
Barbados[29][30]20,0007%
Ireland[30]291,0007%
Chile[31]420,0004%
Brazil[32][33]840,0000.4%

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) estimates

In 2006, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a British think tank, published a report on the British diaspora, entitled Brits Abroad. The following table lists the estimated number of British people (defined as people who are British Subjects, such as British citizen, British National Overseas or British Overseas Citizen) living overseas in countries with more than 100 British people, according to the IPPR's report:[14][30]

Rank Country Number of
British
residents,
2006
Region(s) Group(s)
1 Australia 1,300,000 Asia Pacific Anglo-Celtic Australian, Cornish Australian, English Australian, Scottish Australian, Welsh Australian
2 Spain 761,000 Europe Britons in Spain
3 United States 678,000 North America British American, Cornish American, English American, Welsh American, Scottish American, Scotch-Irish American
4 Canada 603,000 North America English Canadian, Scottish Canadian, Welsh Canadian, Cornish Canadian
5 Ireland 291,000 Europe Anglo-Irish people
6 India 250,000 South Asia Anglo-Indian
7 New Zealand 215,000 Asia Pacific British New Zealander, Scottish New Zealander
8 South Africa 212,000 Africa British diaspora in Africa
9 France 200,000 Europe Britons in France
10 Germany 115,000 Europe British migration to Germany
11 Portugal 60,000 Europe
12 Cyprus 59,000 Europe
13 UAE 55,000 Mid East Britons in the United Arab Emirates
14 Pakistan 47,000 Asia Britons in Pakistan
15 Singapore 45,000 Asia Pacific Eurasians in Singapore
16 Switzerland 45,000 Europe
17 Israel 44,000 Mid East
18 Netherlands 44,000 Europe English in the Netherlands
19 Thailand 41,000 Asia Pacific
20 China (including Hong Kong) 36,000note Asia Pacific Britons in China, Britons in Hong Kong, Shanghailander
21 Turkey 34,000 Mid East Britons in Turkey
22 Kenya 29,000 Africa British diaspora in Africa
23 Belgium 28,000 Europe
24 Barbados 27,000 Caribbean
25 Saudi Arabia 26,000 Mid East
26 Italy 26,000 Europe
27 Jamaica 25,000 Caribbean White Jamaicans
28 Japan 23,000 Asia Pacific Britons in Japan
29 Sweden 18,000 Europe
30 Greece 18,000 Europe
31 Nigeria 16,000 Africa British Nigerian, British diaspora in Africa
32 Norway 15,000 Europe
33 Egypt 14,000 Africa Britons in Egypt
34 Philippines 14,000 Asia Pacific
35 Malaysia 13,000 Asia Pacific
36 Trinidad and Tobago 11,000 Caribbean
37 Brazil 11,000 (expatriates) South America English Brazilian, Scottish Brazilian
38 Bahrain 11,000 Mid East
39 Gaza & West Bank 11,000 Mid East
40 Indonesia 11,000 Asia Pacific
41 Denmark 11,000 Europe
42 Bangladesh 9,200 Asia
43 Malta 9,000 Europe
44 Mexico 8,500 North America British Mexican
45 Austria 8,500 Europe
46 Argentina 8,300 South America English Argentine, Welsh Argentine, Scottish Argentine
47 Qatar 8,100 Mid East
48 Oman 7,800 Mid East
49 Malawi 7,400 Africa British diaspora in Africa
50 Venezuela 7,200 South America
51 Jordan 7,200 Mid East
52 Kuwait 7,100 Mid East
53 Czech Republic 6,800 Europe
54 Brunei 6,400 Asia Pacific
55 Macao 6,300 Asia Pacific
56 Zimbabwe 6,100 Africa British diaspora in Africa
57 Russia 6,100 Europe
58 Ghana 5,900 Africa British diaspora in Africa
59 Zambia 5,800 Africa
60 Poland 5,600 Europe
61 Tanzania 5,500 Africa British diaspora in Africa
62 Luxembourg 5,500 Europe
63 Chile 5,200 South America British Chilean, English Chilean, Scottish Chilean, Welsh Chilean
64 Hungary 5,200 Europe
65 Botswana 5,000 Africa British diaspora in Africa
66 Costa Rica 4,800 North America
67 Peru 4,600 South America British Peruvian
68 Romania 4,500 Europe
69 Sri Lanka 4,400 Asia Burgher people
70 Bahamas 4,100 Caribbean
71 Vietnam 3,800 Asia Pacific
72 Colombia 3,600 South America
73 Libya 3,600 Africa
74 Gibraltar 3,600 Europe Gibraltarians
75 Yemen 3,400 Mid East
76 South Korea 3,400 Asia Pacific
77 Iran 2,900 Mid East
78 Antigua and Barbuda 2,800 Caribbean
79 Finland 2,800 Europe
80 Nepal 2,700 Asia
81 Grenada 2,500 Caribbean
82 Uganda 2,500 Africa British diaspora in Africa
83 Ecuador 2,400 South America
84 Morocco 2,400 Africa
85 Azerbaijan 2,400 Europe
86 Swaziland 2,300 Africa
87 Guyana 2,200 South America
88 Lebanon 2,200 Mid East
89 Syria 2,200 Mid East
90 Belize 2,000 North America
91 Sierra Leone 2,000 Africa
92 Iraq 2,000 Mid East
93 Guatemala 1,900 North America
94 Dominica 1,800 Caribbean
95 Netherlands Antilles 1,800 Caribbean
96 Seychelles 1,800 Africa
97 Namibia 1,700 Africa
98 Mauritania 1,600 Africa
99 Serbia-Montenegro 1,600 Europe
100 St Lucia 1,500 Caribbean
101 Gambia 1,500 Africa British diaspora in Africa
102 Mozambique 1,400 Africa
103 Tunisia 1,400 Africa
104 St Vincent/Grenadines 1,300 Caribbean
105 Ethiopia 1,300 Africa
106 Sudan 1,300 Africa
107 Ivory Coast 1,200 Africa
108 Dominican Republic 1,100 Caribbean
109 Panama 1,000 North America
110 British Virgin Islands 1,000 Caribbean
111 Cambodia 1,000 Asia Pacific
112 Honduras 950 North America
113 North Macedonia 950 Europe
114 Papua New Guinea 940 Asia Pacific
115 Iceland 940 Europe
116 Falkland Islands 930 South America Falkland Islanders
117 Afghanistan 900 Asia
118 Ukraine 900 Europe
119 Croatia 890 Europe
120 St Kitts & Nevis 880 Caribbean
121 Bulgaria 800 Europe
122 Kazakhstan 770 Asia
123 Estonia 750 Europe
124 Mauritius 740 Africa
125 Slovakia 740 Europe
126 Uruguay 690 South America
127 Angola 650 Africa British Angolans
128 Algeria 630 Africa
129 Bermuda 600 Caribbean White Bermudian
130 Bosnia-Herzegovina 540 Europe
131 Fiji 500 Asia Pacific
132 Bolivia 470 South America
133 Myanmar (Burma) 460 Asia Pacific Anglo-Burmese
134 Nicaragua 410 North America English settlement in Nicaragua
135 El Salvador 390 North America
136 DR Congo 390 Africa
137 Latvia 370 Europe
138 Lesotho 350 Africa
139 Mongolia 340 Asia Pacific
140 Paraguay 330 South America
141 Slovenia 330 Europe
142 Monaco 320 Europe
143 Cameroon 300 Africa
144 Madagascar 300 Africa Britons in Madagascar
145 Lithuania 290 Europe
146 Vanuatu 270 Asia Pacific
147 Anguilla 260 Caribbean
148 Senegal 220 Africa
149 Andorra 210 Europe
150 Tajikistan 200 Asia
151 Georgia 200 Europe
152 Tonga 190 Asia Pacific
153 Albania 190 Europe
154 Cuba 160 Caribbean
155 Montserrat 160 Caribbean
156 Uzbekistan 130 Asia
157 Cayman Islands 110 Caribbean
158 Djibouti 110 Africa
- Greenland <100 North America
- Haiti <100 Caribbean
- Puerto Rico <100 Caribbean
- Turks & Caicos <100 Caribbean
- US Virgin Islands <100 Caribbean
- Surinam <100 South America
- Benin <100 Africa
- Burkina Faso <100 Africa
- Cape Verde <100 Africa
- Central African Republic <100 Africa
- Chad <100 Africa
- Congo <100 Africa
- Guinea <100 Africa
- Liberia <100 Africa
- Niger <100 Africa
- Rwanda <100 Africa
- Somalia <100 Africa
- St Helena <100 Africa
- Togo <100 Africa
- Bhutan <100 Asia
- Kyrgyzstan <100 Asia
- Maldives <100 Asia
- Turkmenistan <100 Asia
- Cook Islands <100 Asia Pacific
- French Polynesia <100 Asia Pacific
- Guam <100 Asia Pacific
- Kiribati <100 Asia Pacific
- New Caledonia <100 Asia Pacific
- Norfolk Island <100 Asia Pacific
- North Korea <100 Asia Pacific
- Samoa <100 Asia Pacific
- Solomon Islands <100 Asia Pacific
- Taiwan <100 Asia Pacific
- Tuvalu <100 Asia Pacific
- Armenia <100 Europe
- Belarus <100 Europe
- Faroe Islands <100 Europe
- Liechtenstein <100 Europe
- Moldova <100 Europe
- San Marino <100 Europe

^ Note: A different estimate puts China (incl. Hong Kong) ahead with a population of 3,750,000 British citizens,[34][35] most of which are those in Hong Kong who have continued to possess British nationality, particularly the British nationals (overseas) status, which numbered 3.4 million, through their connection with the former crown colony (see British nationality and Hong Kong for further details).[36]

See also

References

Notes

  1. Richards, Eric (2004). Britannia's Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland Since 1600. A&C Black. p. 255. ISBN 9781852854416.
  2. British ethnicity
  3. 2006 Census Data
  4. "Cultural Diversity". Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  5. Canada Census
  6. "Selected social characteristics in the United States: 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates". US Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  7. 2011 Census: Ethnic group, local authorities in England and Wales, Accessed 13 June 2014
  8. Statistics New Zealand (4 February 2009), QuickStats About Culture and Identity, stats.govt.nz, archived from the original on 19 February 2008, retrieved 18 May 2009
  9. "CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA, 2016". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  10. "Census Profile, 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  11. For example: Cross, John A. (2017). "British Landscapes in America". Ethnic Landscapes of America. Cham, Zug: Springer. p. 200. ISBN 9783319540092. Retrieved 2 November 2020. The U.S. Census ancestry data indicates the first and second ancestry reported on the census returns. Because many individuals have multiple ancestries - and the ethnic mixing of the population increases each generation - many persons who are partly of English or Irish ancestry may not report it. [...] In addition, the 5 year 2010-14 American Community Survey showed 22,365,250 persons indicting American ancestry, disproportionately overrepresented in the Upland South, a region whose settlement history is largely British. Thus, in all reality, the figures [...] underestimate the population that is of British ancestry [...].
  12. Richards, Eric (2004). Britannia's Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland Since 1600. London: A&C Black. p. 3-4. ISBN 9781852854416. Retrieved 2 November 2020. [...] even the basic outline of the diaspora remains vague. It was never a controlled movement and it was mostly poorly documented. Migrants are always difficult to categorise and to count. [...] The scale of the modern British dispersion has been estimated at about 200 million, [...] or, counting those who can claim descent from British and Irish emigrants, more than three times the current population of the British Isles.
  13. "The other special relationship: the UAE and the UK - The National".
  14. Sriskandarajah, Dhananjayan; Drew, Catherine (2006). Brits Abroad: Mapping the scale and nature of British emigration. London: Institute for Public Policy Research. ISBN 1-86030-307-2.
  15. Ember 2004, p. 47.
  16. Marshall 2001, p. 254.
  17. Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster. "House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 22 Mar 2006 (pt 15)". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  18. "Expatriates worldwide". JustLanded.com. 2009.
  19. "Working Abroad". whichoffshore.com. 2010. Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  20. "British citizens living abroad - About my vote, produced by The Electoral Commission". Aboutmyvote.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  21. Government of the Pitcairn Islands, Repopulation, retrieved 2 December 2018
  22. Falkland Islands Government, 2016 Census Report (PDF), stats.govt.nz, retrieved 2 December 2016
  23. "2016 Census QuickStats - Norfolk Island". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  24. "The World Factbook". CIA.
  25. Edward G. Archer (2006). "Ethnic factors". Gibraltar, identity and empire. Routledge. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-415-34796-9.
  26. "NORTH AMERICA :: BERMUDA". CIA.
  27. "AFRICA :: SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION, AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA". CIA.
  28. "Bahamas Population 2019". World Population Review.
  29. "The World Factbook". CIA.
  30. "Brits Abroad". BBC News – Special Reports. BBC. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  31. "Historia de Chile, Británicos y Anglosajones en Chile durante el siglo XIX". Retrieved 11 January 2010.
  32. Gilberto Freyre. "Ingleses no Brasil".
  33. https://www.revistaideias.com.br/2018/11/06/a-chegada-dos-britanicos-ao-parana/
  34. "The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons put the size of the British expatriate community in Hong Kong at over 3 million". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  35. "The FCO had the figure for Hong Kong and China combined at 3,752,031 : Both figures cover all British nationals, including those who are not British citizens". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  36. "Lords Hansard, 22 March 2007". UK Parliament.

Bibliography

  • Ember, Carol R.; et al. (2004). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9.
  • Marshall, Peter James (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7.
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