United Kingdom

=== Migration ===
{{Main|Historical immigration to Great Britain|Modern immigration to the United Kingdom}}
{{See also|Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom}}
[[File:United Kingdom foreign born population by country of birth.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Estimated foreign-born population by country of birth from April 2007&nbsp;to March 2008]]
[[File:British expats countrymap.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Estimated number of British citizens living overseas by country in 2006]]

Immigration is now contributing to a rising UK population,<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 August 2008 |title=Immigration and births to non-British mothers pushes British population to record high |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/immigration-and-births-to-nonbritish-mothers-pushes-british-population-to-record-high-6816318.html |work=London Evening Standard}}</ref> with arrivals and UK-born children of migrants accounting for about half of the population increase between 1991 and 2001. According to official statistics released in 2015, 27 per cent of UK live births in 2014 were to mothers born outside the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 July 2015 |title=Births in England and Wales: 2014 |url=http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/birth-summary-tables--england-and-wales/2014/index.html |website=Office for National Statistics}}</ref> The ONS reported that net migration rose from 2009 to 2010 by 21 per cent to 239,000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Travis |first=Alan |date=25 August 2011 |title=UK net migration rises 21 per cent |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/25/uk-net-migration-rises-21 |work=The Guardian |location=London}}</ref>

In 2013, approximately 208,000 foreign nationals were naturalised as British citizens, the highest number since 1962. This figure fell to around 125,800 in 2014. Between 2009 and 2013, the average number of British citizenships granted annually was 195,800. The most common previous nationalities of those naturalised in 2014 were Indian, Pakistani, [[Philippines|Filipino]], [[Nigeria]]n, [[Bangladesh]]i, [[Nepal]]i, Chinese, South African, Polish and [[Somalia|Somali]].<ref name="Blinder2015">{{Cite web |last=Blinder |first=Scott |date=27 March 2015 |title=Naturalisation as a British Citizen: Concepts and Trends |url=http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/migobs/Briefing%20-%20Naturalisation%20as%20a%20British%20Citizen%20-%20Concepts%20and%20Trends_0.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150916052200/http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/migobs/Briefing%20-%20Naturalisation%20as%20a%20British%20Citizen%20-%20Concepts%20and%20Trends_0.pdf |archive-date=16 September 2015 |access-date=1 August 2015 |publisher=The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford}}</ref> The total number of grants of settlement, which confer [[Permanent residency|permanent residence]] in the UK but not citizenship,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Blinder |first=Scott |date=11 June 2014 |title=Settlement in the UK |url=http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/settlement-uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906232123/http://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/settlement-uk |archive-date=6 September 2015 |access-date=1 August 2015 |publisher=The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford}}</ref> was approximately 154,700 in 2013, higher than the previous two years.<ref name="Blinder2015" />

Emigration was an important feature of British society in the 19th century. Between 1815 and 1930, around 11.4&nbsp;million people emigrated from Britain and 7.3&nbsp;million from Ireland. Estimates show that by the end of the 20th century, some 300&nbsp;million people of British and Irish descent were permanently settled around the globe.<ref>Richards (2004), pp. 6–7.</ref> Today, at least 5.5&nbsp;million UK-born people live abroad,<ref name="BritsAbroad">{{Cite web |last1=Sriskandarajah |first1=Dhananjayan |last2=Drew |first2=Catherine |date=11 December 2006 |title=Brits Abroad: Mapping the scale and nature of British emigration |url=http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=509 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828011816/http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=509 |archive-date=28 August 2007 |access-date=9 March 2015 |publisher=Institute for Public Policy Research}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Brits Abroad: world overview |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/brits_abroad/html/default.stm |access-date=20 April 2007 |publisher=BBC}}; {{Cite news |last=Casciani |first=Dominic |date=11 December 2006 |title=5.5&nbsp;m Britons 'opt to live abroad' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6210358.stm |access-date=20 April 2007}}</ref> mainly in Australia, Spain, the United States and Canada.<ref name="BritsAbroad" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 December 2006 |title=Brits Abroad: Country-by-country |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6161705.stm |work=BBC News}}</ref>