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Somalia

Overview

The rise in people born in Somalia coming to live in Britain between 1991 and 2001 is one of the biggest of any group, driven largely by people fleeing conflict.

Historically, port workers from the then British colony of Somaliland first settled a century ago in Cardiff, Bristol and Liverpool; Cardiff itself has the most people of Somali-lineage in Britain.

The new Somali communities tend to be in London with other smaller communities developing in Manchester, Sheffield and Leicester.

Some Somali people in Britain originally fled to the Netherlands � but moved after experiencing racism.

Concentrations of people born in Somalia

Map on right shows country as if areas with roughly equal populations were the same size. So, densely populated London takes up much more space than sparsely populated Scottish Highlands.

At-a-glance

43,515 Somali people were living in Britain at the 2001 Census. There are no figures for 1991 but experts say this was a significant rise.

78% of Somalis live in London, which represents 33,838 people or 0.47% of the capital's total population.

90 Somali-born people were found by the Census to live in North East England � the region with the smallest communities from this country.

0.08% of the British population was born in Somalia.

Click column titles to sort table by that column.

Distribution of people born in Somalia

	TOTAL NUMBERS			AS % OF ALL PEOPLE
Sort by: Nation/region	1991	2001	+/- %	1991	2001	+/- %
Whole of Britain	n/a	43,515	n/a	n/a	0.08	n/a

East Midlands	n/a	1,478	n/a	n/a	0.04	n/a
East of England	n/a	444	n/a	n/a	0.01	n/a
London	n/a	33,838	n/a	n/a	0.47	n/a
North East	n/a	90	n/a	n/a	0.00	n/a
North West	n/a	2,080	n/a	n/a	0.03	n/a
Scotland	n/a	159	n/a	n/a	0.00	n/a
South East	n/a	1,382	n/a	n/a	0.02	n/a
South West	n/a	725	n/a	n/a	0.01	n/a
Wales	n/a	819	n/a	n/a	0.03	n/a
West Midlands	n/a	1,021	n/a	n/a	0.02	n/a
Yorks & Humber	n/a	1,479	n/a	n/a	0.03	n/a

Most popular areas

		TOTAL NUMBERS			AS % OF ALL PEOPLE
Area	Regions	1991	2001	+/- %	1991	2001	+/- %
Southall W	London	n/a	1,445	n/a	n/a	2.24	n/a
Harlesden	London	n/a	937	n/a	n/a	2.41	n/a
Tottenham N	London	n/a	882	n/a	n/a	1.44	n/a
East Ham N	London	n/a	785	n/a	n/a	1.57	n/a
Moss Side	North West	n/a	781	n/a	n/a	1.73	n/a
East Ham S	London	n/a	756	n/a	n/a	1.20	n/a
St. Pancras	London	n/a	724	n/a	n/a	1.59	n/a
Forest Gate	London	n/a	722	n/a	n/a	1.40	n/a
Acton	London	n/a	713	n/a	n/a	1.05	n/a
Poplar	London	n/a	693	n/a	n/a	0.83	n/a

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