Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom

Southeast Asians in the United Kingdom
Total population
	England and Wales only:; 267,288 – 0.45% (2021) Filipino – 162,138 – 0.27% (2021); Thai – 39,962 – 0.07% (2021); Vietnamese – 37,458 – 0.06% (2021); Malays – 12,872 – 0.02% (2021); Burmese – 7,514 – 0.01% (2021); Indonesians – 7,344 – 0.01% (2021); ; Does not include any Southeast Asians who may be in the 'Other Ethnic Group' as provided by the Office for National Statistics for the 2021 census.
Regions with significant populations
	London, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Edinburgh
Languages
	Tagalog/Filipino – 60,899; Thai – 22,966; Vietnamese – 18,518; Malay – 8,014; Number of speakers in England and Wales as a main language, of all usual residents aged 3 and over, from the 2021 census.
Religion
	Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Non-religious, others
Related ethnic groups
	Asians

Southeast Asians living in the United Kingdom have been present in the country for several centuries, arriving from Southeast Asia, and primarily originating from countries and territories such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Population history

Southeast Asian is not a category used in official statistics in the United Kingdom,^[3] but has been considered as a particular ethnic identity,^[4]^[5]^[6] including by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office,^[7] and Southeast Asians have been studied academically as a distinct group.^[8]^[9]

The country had a small population of Filipinos, Singaporeans and Malaysians until the late 20th century. The number started to grow in the 1970s after the passage of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act and its amendment in 1968 which curtailed extensive rights to immigrate to the UK for Commonwealth citizens. This Act had the effect of more immigration from non-Commonwealth countries, such as the Philippines.^{[citation needed]}

The 2001 UK census recorded 9,924 Burmese-born people residing in the United Kingdom.^[10]

2021 Census

Country of birth

The figures below represent data collected for the 2021 United Kingdom census with the country as a reported birthplace recorded (i.e. does not include British born people of Southeast Asian origin). The census in Scotland was delayed for a year and took place in 2022.^[11]

State/Territory	England (2021)^[12]	Scotland (2022)^[13]	Wales (2021)^[12]	Northern Ireland (2021)^[14]	United Kingdom (2021/22)
Philippines	149,474	6,245	5,542	3,701	164,962
Malaysia	59,674	5,295	1,836	871	67,676
Singapore	39,637	3,725	1,287	360	45,009
Thailand	47,597	6,948	2,112	725	–
Vietnam	36,442		772	237
Indonesia	11,858		320	239
Myanmar	10,410		214	48
Brunei	4,350		163	24
Cambodia	1,500		33	27
Other Southeast Asia	15,582		108	–
Total	376,524	22,214	12,348	6,232	417,318

Ethnic group

Ethnic group^[a]	England (2021)^[15]	Scotland (2022)^[16]	Wales (2021)^[15]	Northern Ireland (2021)^[17]	United Kingdom (2021/22)^[b]
Filipinos	155,996	To be published, only 2011 figures available^[18]	6,142	4,449	166,587
Thai	38,279		1,683	373	40,335
Vietnamese	36,643		815	117	37,575
Malay	12,407		466	143	13,016
Burmese/Myanma	7,338		177	18	7,533
Indonesian	7,145		199	124	7,468
Total	257,808	TBC	9,482	5,224	272,514

In media

In 2008, ABS-CBN reported that acting parts in the British film industry were rare for Southeast Asian British people.^[19]

Subgroups

Southeast Asians
- Burmese
- Filipinos
- Indonesians
- Malaysians
- Singaporeans
- Thais
- Vietnamese

Notes

^ Only Southeast Asians who identified under the broad 'Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh' category are included. Those who identified themselves under the 'Other ethnic group' are excluded.
^ Excluding Scotland

References

^ "TS:002 Ethnic group (detailed)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "TS024 - Main language (detailed)". Nomis: Official Census and Labour Market Statistics. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
^ Aspinall, Peter J. (2003). "Who is Asian? A category that remains contested in population and health research". Journal of Public Health Medicine. 25 (2): 91–97. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdg021. JSTOR 45161903. PMID 12848395.
^ Martin F Norden; Robert F Weir (2019). Pop culture matters : proceedings of the 39th Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture Association. Cambridge University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-1-5275-3068-3. Prevailing racist codes – be they denigrating African Americans in the United States, or Southeast Asians in Britain.
^ Anna Triandafyllidou (2011). Handbook on tolerance and cultural diversity. European University Institute. p. 14. Indeed people of different ethnic backgrounds may share the same religion (e.g. southeast Asians in Britain, Moroccans and Turks in the Netherlands or in Germany).
^ Raymond MacDonald; David J. Hargreaves; Dorothy Miell, eds. (2017). Handbook of Musical Identities. Oxford University Press. p. 535. ISBN 978-0-19-967948-5. While some ethnic minority groups may be related to recent or old migration waves (e.g., Mexicans in the USA or South East Asians in the UK), others refer to populations that gained minority status over time (e.g., the Aboriginal in Canada).
^ "The South-East Asia Diaspora in the UK" (PDF). Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 2015.
^ K. White; J.A. Lawrence (2018). "Racial/Ethnic Residential Segregation and Mental Health Outcomes". In Morgan M. Medlock; Derri Shtasel; Nhi-Ha T. Trinh; David R. Williams (eds.). Racism and Psychiatry: Contemporary Issues and Interventions (Current Clinical Psychiatry). Humana Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-3-319-90196-1. The evidence for associations between residential segregation ... among Asian Americans is sparse, although studies of Southeast Asians in the UK are more common.
^ David Matsumoto (2016). "Culture and Psychological Disorders". Culture and Psychology. Cengage. p. 307. ISBN 978-1-305-64895-1. A comparison of white British and South-east Asian British adolescent females diagnosed with anorexia
^ "Country-of-birth database" (XLS). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
^ McNeill, Kirsty (18 March 2021). "March 21st is Census day - but Scotland will have to wait". Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Country of birth (extended)". www.ons.gov.uk. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
^ "Table UV204 - Country of birth: Country by Country of Birth by Individuals". National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 24 May 2024. > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Country of birth: UV204'
^ "MS-A18: Country of birth - full detail". nisra.gov.uk. Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
^ ^a ^b "TS022: Ethnic group (detailed)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "Table UV201 - Ethnic group: Country by Ethnic Group by Individuals". National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 24 May 2024. > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Country of birth: UV204'
^ "MS-B02 Ethnic group - full detail". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^ "Ethnic group (detailed)" (PDF). National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2015.
^ Gene Alcantara (27 January 2008). "Fil-Brit 'maid' in BBC comedy show explains why she did it". ABS-CBN Corporation. Acting jobs for southeast Asians in the United Kingdom (UK) are few and far between, so Filipino actors and actresses take what is offered when they come up.