FOI reference: FOI-2026-3628
You asked
Please provide the most recent estimate of the UK population broken down by nationality, held by the Office for National Statistics.
We said
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request.
Census 2021 collects information on passports held as a proxy for nationality. There is guidance available on using country of birth, nationality, and passports held data.
The best estimates of the population of England and Wales by country of birth and passport are available in our International migration, England and Wales: Census 2021 bulletin.
The best estimates of the population of Scotland by country of birth and passport are available in Scotland's Census 2022 – demography and migration report.
The best estimates of the population of Northern Ireland by country of birth and passport are available on the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency's Census 2021 main statistics for Northern Ireland (phase 1) web page.
The census provides the best picture of society at a moment in time every 10 years. However, there is a need for more timely and frequent statistics that make the best use of all available data and enable us to understand our population and how it changes on an ongoing basis.
Historically, we used the Annual Population Survey to produce our Population estimates for individual countries and nationalities. However, this was discontinued in 2022 because of quality issues relating to the data used to weight the non-UK-born population. We are exploring the best methods to produce these estimates, including using:
a rolled-forward cohort component method based on Census 2021 and Census 2022 data
administrative data
We will provide an update on our research later in the year.
Our most recent estimates of the non-UK born population were included in our latest Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending December 2025 bulletin.
This only provides estimates of the EU+ and non-EU+ born population of the UK, not by specific nationalities.
If you are interested in helping shape our research on this topic, you may wish to complete our survey on user needs for population estimates by country of birth and nationality.