BORN ABROAD

South Africa

Overview

In the 10 years to 2001 there was a doubling of the number of South Africa-born people living in Britain – bringing the total to some 140,000.The majority of these people are concentrated in largely affluent areas of London, the anecdotal evidence being that many are business people working in the City of London. There is, for instance, a South African-born cluster in the Canary Wharf area. University towns such as Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Bristol also show significant clusters of South Africa-born. Many young people with British family ties have come over the years to work in the UK, including the public services.

Concentrations of people born in South Africa Click to highlight key cities 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

140,201 people born in South Africa were in Britain at the 2001 Census – a rise of 106% on 1991, representing 0.25% of the population.32% of South African-born people were recorded in London. 11 of the most affluent areas of London included populations of more than 600 South African-born people each.2,605 in the Putney area of west London make it the most popular destination for those born in South Africa.

Click column titles to sort table by that column.

Distribution of people born in South Africa
	TOTAL NUMBERS			AS % OF ALL PEOPLE
Sort by: Nation/region	1991	2001	+/- %	1991	2001	+/- %
Whole of Britain	67,918	140,201	106.43	0.12	0.25	0.13
East Midlands	3,045	6,292	106.63	0.08	0.15	0.07
East of England	6,141	13,387	117.99	0.12	0.25	0.13
London	18,644	45,507	144.08	0.28	0.63	0.35
North East	1,538	2,655	72.63	0.06	0.11	0.05
North West	4,586	7,772	69.47	0.07	0.12	0.05
Scotland	4,374	7,803	78.40	0.09	0.15	0.06
South East	15,277	31,062	103.33	0.20	0.39	0.19
South West	6,545	11,381	73.89	0.14	0.23	0.09
Wales	1,711	3,029	77.03	0.06	0.10	0.04
West Midlands	3,189	6,118	91.85	0.06	0.12	0.06
Yorks & Humber	2,868	5,195	81.14	0.06	0.10	0.04

Most popular areas
		TOTAL NUMBERS			AS % OF ALL PEOPLE
Area	Regions	1991	2001	+/- %	1991	2001	+/- %
Wimbledon N	London	314	1,493	375.48	0.78	3.23	2.45
Putney E	London	200	1,315	557.50	0.53	3.32	2.79
Putney W	London	154	1,290	737.66	0.38	3.22	2.84
Golders Green	London	565	1,006	78.05	1.34	2.09	0.75
Wimbledon S	London	133	1,005	655.64	0.31	2.16	1.85
Richmond N	London	442	967	118.78	0.67	1.41	0.74
Highgate	London	626	945	50.96	1.35	1.72	0.37
Acton	London	215	841	291.16	0.35	1.24	0.89
Fulham	London	298	811	172.15	0.63	1.42	0.79
Kensington	London	488	799	63.73	0.94	1.27	0.33