Indian diaspora largest ethnic group in the UK: census

Indian diaspora is the largest ethnic group in the UK and Hinduism with 1.5 per cent of the population is the third most popular religion in the country, the latest census indicated on Tuesday.

The 2011 census data revealed that the immigrant population of England and Wales went up by nearly three million over the past decade to 7.5 million people.

The most common birthplaces outside of the UK for residents are India, Poland and Pakistan, it said.

Just 3.7 million Londoners described their ethnicity as 'White British' in 2011 - down from 4.3 million in 2001, and making up 44.9 per cent of the city's population.

It is believed to be the first time that British whites have become a minority in any region of the UK. The number of ethnic white British has dropped to 80 per cent.

Another major change came in the decreasing number of Christians as a quarter of Britons said they had no religion.

There were 33.2 million people claiming to be Christian, down from 37.3 million in 2001 and making up just 59 per cent of the population.

Nearly twenty-five per cent of people said they had no faith, up from 14.8 per cent a decade earlier, while the proportion of Muslims rose from 3.0 per cent to 4.8 per cent, making it the fastest-growing religion in the country.

The third most popular religion was Hinduism, with 1.5 per cent of the population, while 0.8 per cent were Sikhs and 0.5 per cent Jewish.

In 2011, 7.5 million residents were foreign-born, making up 13 per cent, or one in eight of the population - up from 4.6 million people in 2001.

The total population of England and Wales was 56.1 million, a seven per cent increase on 2001 - and 55 per cent of the increase is due to migration.