The capital has now reached its highest population with 8.6 million, and is also at its most diverse ethnically. There are large numbers of residents in London who were born abroad.
Figures reveal that 10 out of the 32 London boroughs are dominated by residents who were born in India, while residents born in Bangladesh, Poland, Nigeria and Turkey dominate in at least three boroughs each. The ten boroughs with a majority of Indian-born citizens are Barnet (35.9%), Harrow (50.2%), Hillingdon (30.4%), Brent (53.3%), Ealing (46.9%), Hounslow (47.1%), Croydon (32.8%), Bromley (15.9%), Havering and Redbridge.
Currently, there are approximately 267,000 Indian-born Londoners, 126,000 from Bangladesh and 113,000 from Pakistan.
According to the predictions from the census carried out in 2011, experts suggest that the number of foreign-born people residing in London will exceed native Britons by 2031, with an estimated five million. The rise in the number of non-British born Londoners is predicted to total the city's population to over 10 million in 2031, and 11 million in 2041. As the number of foreign-born residents are on an uprise, Britain will allegedly see a slow decline of British-born people.
Professor Michael Batty, from University College London (UCL), stated hat the huge growth in the population over the last ten years “relates to international migration”. He said, “It went down [population] from about 8 million to 6.6 million over a period of about 30 years and the main reason was suburbanisation- suburban growth, people getting cars, changing transport and also slum clearance.”
