| Notable British people of Afghan origin: Hammasa Kohistani, Idries Shah |
| Total population |
|---|
| Afghan-born residents 14,875 (2001 Census figure) 56,000 (2009 ONS estimate) Other population estimates 20,000 (2006 IOM estimate) 70,000 (AAL estimate) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Greater London (Brent, Ealing, Barnet, Newham, Harrow, Waltham Forest, Harringey, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, Croydon, Hounslow) West Midlands (Birmingham, Coventry) |
| Languages |
|
English, Persian (Dari), Pashto, and various other Languages of Afghanistan |
| Religion |
|
Islam (primarily Sunni Muslim but also Shi'a Muslim) |
Afghans in the United Kingdom are citizens or residents of the UK whose ethnic origins are in Afghanistan.
Most Afghans are in London, particulary in the West and North. Areas with very high number of Afghans include: Wembley, Hendon, Kingsbury, Edgware and Southall.
Contents |
Afghans in the UK have existed since the 1970s. The first Afghan immigrants to the British capital were students, businesspeople and Afghan government officials. It wasn't until years later that significant numbers came in the form of refugees.[1] The first large wave of Afghan immigrants to the UK were political refugees fleeing the 1980s communist regime and numerous others came in the early 1990s escaping Mujahideen. The number skyrocketed later that decade due to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.[1]
As stated earlier, one of the large flows of Afghans to the UK were refugees fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power. The country has been in a state of political unrest ever since. Despite the flow of immigrants and refugees remaining fairly stable over the new millennium period, the number of Afghans coming to the UK since the mid-2000s has completely eclipsed the recorded number of Afghans in the 2001 census, as more and more are fleeing the threat of violence and even death in their homeland during the War in Afghanistan.[1] In 2003, the British government announced that they would begin enforced repatriation of failed asylum-seekers in April. This marked a break from the previous policy, observed continuously since 1978, of not returning any Afghans to their country of origin whether or not they were deemed to be economic migrants. At the time, roughly 700 Afghans applied for asylum in the United Kingdom each month, making them one of the largest group of asylum-seekers along with Iraqis.[2]
The 2001 UK Census recorded 14,875 Afghan-born people residing in the UK.[3][4] The Office for National Statistics estimates that, by 2009, the Afghan-born population had risen to 56,000.[5]
A number of unofficial population estimates have been made. Ethnologue estimates that there are 75,000 native Northern Pashto speakers in the UK, although these may comprise persons of other nationalities as well as Afghans.[6] The number of Pashtuns in the UK is estimated at 100,000 (the largest community of Pashtuns in the Western World) and the majority of Afghan Muslims in the UK are of Pashtun origin, although Pashtuns also originate in parts of Pakistan.[7] Other sources have put the Afghan population in London alone at 45,000[8] and 56,000.[9] whilst the Afghan Association of London estimates that the population of Afghans in the whole UK stands at 70,000.[9] The International Organization for Migration conducted a mapping exercise in 2006, suggesting that the Afghan population of the UK was 20,000.[10]
Between 1994 and 2006, around 36,000 Afghans claimed asylum in the UK.[11] Many whose claims were refused have not returned to Afghanistan, although the International Organization for Migration has helped some voluntarily return.[11] 5,540 Afghan nationals were granted British citizenship in 2008, down from 10,555 in 2007.[12]
Around 73 per cent of all Afghans in the UK reside in London; the majority are concentrated in the west London boroughs. Harrow alone has 10,000 Afghans.[13] Outside of London, only Birmingham has a population of Afghans in the thousands. According to the 2001 Census, the single largest Afghan community in the UK was West Southall where 1,121 Afghan born people and many more of Afghan descent live. The locations with the least Afghans are Northern Ireland and Wales, which as sub divisions are estimated to have no greater than 100 Afghan residents each.[4]
One study of Afghan Muslims in England suggests that the majority are of Pashtun ancestry.[14] Overall, there are thought to be up to 100,000 Pashtuns in the UK, forming the largest community of Pashtuns in the West, though not all are of Afghan origin.[15]
There are language divisions between these different ethnic groups, as most Pashtuns speak Pashto while Tajiks and Hazaras speak Dari.[14] Afghans in the UK are mainly Muslim, most of which are Sunni although there is a significant number of Shi'a.[14]
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