UK population by country of birth and nationality at the local authority level

FOI reference: FOI-2025-2614

You asked

I am submitting a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for data on the UK population by country of birth and nationality at the local authority level.

Specifically, I am seeking this information for all available years, but with the data rounded to the nearest hundred rather than the nearest thousand, as provided in existing datasets.

We said

Thank you for your freedom of information request. 

The dataset you reference - Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality: individual country data was discontinued after 2021. We therefore do not hold this information for 2022.  

Census 2021 is currently our best estimate of the population of England and Wales by country of birth and passports held. The associated Census 2021 dataset provides country of birth for all usual residents for all Local Authorities in England and Wales. This is the most up to date data currently available. 

While this source provides the best picture of society at a moment in time, we acknowledge that there is a need for more timely and frequent statistics at a consistent level of quality. Provisional estimates for the year ending June 2022, produced by rolling forward Census 2021 estimates and accounting for population change, were published in International migration research, progress update: November 2022. If you have any queries about this data, Pop.info@ons.gov.uk can advise. 

The ONS will also look at the feasibility of using the Annual Population Survey (APS) for this kind of output going forward. The findings will be included in a research report to be published in May 2025. If the proposed solutions are deemed suitable by both the ONS and its users, a UK-wide population estimate will be added to the publication suite in November 2025. 

In the longer term, the ONS aims to develop high-quality outputs using DPM (Demographic Population Model) stocks. Although this goal is several years away, it should deliver a coherent stock estimate alongside population flows, enhancing the quality and reliability of population statistics.