Wednesday - August 22, 2007

Two Disturbing Stories from Britain

There are two disturbing stories from Britain that deal with demographics. First, last year, over 200,000 citizens of the U.K. emigrated to other nations.  

A record number of Brits are packing their bags and escaping soaring house prices, wet weather and the perception of rising crime for a new life abroad, according to new figures.

The Office of National Statistics showed 385,000 people migrated from the country in the year to July 2006.

This is the highest figure since official counting methods were introduced in 1991.

Nearly 200,000 of the migrants were British citizens, according to the statistics.

The most popular destination for migrants was Australia, with South Africa proving to be another favourite.

The number of long-term migrants who arrived in the UK in the same period was 574,000, slightly down on the previous year.

Overall, the population of the country rose 0.6 per cent in the year to 60,587,000.

Second, 25% of all babies born in the U.K. have "foreign" parents. 

A quarter of all babies born in the UK have a foreign mother or father, according to Government figures released today.

The proportion of babies born to a foreign parent in the year to July 2006 was 25 per cent, compared to 20 per cent in 2001.

The Office of National statistics figures show 734,000 births in the UK last year, compared to 663,000 four years earlier.

An ONS spokesman said a number of trends had produced the rise, including an increase in births to both UK-born and foreign-born women.

"We have figures for the contribution of mothers and fathers born abroad and that has risen slightly from under 20 per cent in 2001 to slightly over 25 per cent now," he said.

"That reflects the cumulative effect of immigration over the last 40 years." 

Now the question is, are the new immigrants Muslim, who tend not to assimilate well or Eastern Europeans, who in the long run will probably adopt English culture.

Author: The Machiavellian
Technorati Tags: Britain Demograpics
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