Total population | |
---|---|
United Kingdom: 1,174,983 (2011) England: 1,112,282 (2011) Scotland: 49,381 (2011) Wales: 12,229 (2011) Northern Ireland: 1,091 (2011) 1.8% of the UK's population (2011) |
|
Regions with significant populations | |
West Midlands, Greater London, Yorkshire and the Humber, North West England | |
Languages | |
English (British and Pakistani) · Urdu · Potohari, Mirpuri and Kashmiri · Punjabi · Pashto · Saraiki · Sindhi · Balochi · others | |
Religion | |
Islam (Sunni, Shi'ite, Sufism, Ahmadiyya) Minority: Christianity · Hinduism · Sikhism · others |
|
Related ethnic groups | |
Overseas Pakistani · British Asian · British Indian |
British Pakistanis (Urdu: پاکستانی نژاد برطانوی; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, and Pakistani-born people who have migrated to the UK. The majority of British Pakistanis originate from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab regions, with a smaller number from other parts of Pakistan including Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The UK is home to the largest Pakistani community in Europe, with the population of British Pakistanis exceeding 1.17 million. British Pakistanis are the second largest ethnic minority population in the United Kingdom and also make up the second largest subgroup of British Asians. In addition, they are one of the largest overseas Pakistani communities, similar in number to the Pakistani diaspora in Saudi Arabia.
Due to the historical relations between the two countries, immigration to the UK from the region which is now Pakistan began in small numbers in the mid-19th century. During the mid-nineteenth century, parts of what is now Pakistan came under the British Raj and people from those regions served as soldiers in the British Indian Army, and some were deployed in other parts of the British Empire. However it was following the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, that Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. This was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth. Pakistani immigrants helped to resolve labour shortages in the British steel and textile industries. Doctors from Pakistan were recruited by the National Health Service in the 1960s.