British diaspora

British diaspora

Total population
5,000,000-6,000,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
Hong Kong	3,750,000
Australia	1,300,000
Spain	761,000
United States	678,000
Canada	603,000
Ireland	291,000
New Zealand	215,000
South Africa	212,000
France	200,000
Germany	115,000
Languages
British English, Chinese, Spanish and language(s) of country of residence.
Religion
Mostly Christianity (or other denominations), minorities practice Islam, Buddhism, Atheism, and other religions.
Related ethnic groups
British people

A world map showing the distribution and concentration of Britons by country.^[1]
Legend:

> 1,000,000   < 1,000,000   <500,000   <100,000   <50,000

<10,000   <5,000   <1,000   <100 or No Data   UK

The British diaspora consists of British people and their descendants who emigrated from the present-day United Kingdom, or people who have acquired British Nationality through colonisation. The diaspora is concentrated in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Hong Kong, as well as parts of the Caribbean and continental Europe, such as Spain. A 2006 publication from the Institute for Public Policy Research estimated 5.5 million British-born people lived outside of the United Kingdom.^[1]

According to The Foreign and Commonwealth Office there are 13.1 million British nationals living abroad in 2004–05. These figures are taken from the consular annual returns from overseas posts. There is no requirement for UK citizens to register with British missions overseas and therefore these figures are based on the most reliable information that can be obtained e.g. from host government official statistics.^[3]

After the Age of Discovery the various peoples of the British Isles, and especially the English, were among the earliest and largest communities to emigrate out of Europe, and the British Empire's expansion during the first half of the 19th century saw an "extraordinary dispersion of the British people", with particular concentrations "in Australasia and North America".^[4]

The British Empire was "built on waves of migration overseas by British people",^[5] who left Great Britain, later the United Kingdom, and "reached across the globe and permanently affected population structures in three continents".^[4] As a result of the British colonisation of the Americas, what became the United States was "easily the greatest single destination of emigrant British", but in the Federation of Australia the British experienced a birth rate higher than "anything seen before" resulting in the displacement of indigenous Australians.^[4]

In colonies such as Southern Rhodesia, British East Africa and the Cape Colony, permanently resident British communities were established and while never more than a numerical minority these Britons "exercised a dominant influence" upon the culture and politics of those lands.^[5] In Australia, Canada and New Zealand "people of British origin came to constitute the majority of the population" contributing to these states becoming integral to the Anglosphere.^[5]

The British emigrated not only of parts of the British Empire but they went in large numbers to settle in large numbers in Latin America, particularly the Southern Cone. Argentina have large British-descended populations, including a large Welsh population in Patagonia. More a half a million of Chileans have British ancestry and Chilean Culture had been anglicised in the 19th century.

The United Kingdom Census 1861 estimated the size of the overseas British to be around 2.5 million, but concluded that most of these were "not conventional settlers" but rather "travellers, merchants, professionals, and military personnel".^[4] By 1890, there were over 1.5 million further British-born people living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.^[4]

The diaspora, maximally interpreted, contains tens of millions of people, including:

• British in the Americas
  • British in the United States
    • British American
    • Cornish American
    • English American
    • Welsh American
    • Scottish American
    • Scotch-Irish American
  • British in Canada
    • English Canadian
    • Scottish Canadian
    • Welsh Canadian
  • British in Brazil
    • English Brazilian
    • Scottish Brazilian
  • British in Argentina
    • English Argentine
    • Irish Argentine
    • Welsh Argentine
    • Scottish Argentine
  • British in Chile
    • British Chilean
    • English Chilean
    • Scottish Chilean
    • Irish Chilean
    • Welsh Chilean
  • British in Peru
    • British Peruvian
• British in Asia
  • Anglo-Indian
  • Anglo-Burmese
  • Burgher people
  • Britons in Hong Kong
  • Britons in Pakistan
  • Britons in Turkey
  • Britons in the United Arab Emirates
• Britons in continental Europe
  • Britons in Spain
  • Britons in France
• British in Oceania
  • Anglo-Celtic Australian
    • Cornish Australian
    • English Australian
    • Scottish Australian
    • Welsh Australian
  • British New Zealander
    • Scottish New Zealander
• British diaspora in Africa

British people by country

The following table lists the estimated number of British people (defined as people who are British Subjects, such as British citizen, British National Overseas or British Overseas Citizen) living overseas by country:^[1]

See also

• Anglosphere

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Ember, Carol R.; Ember, Melvin; Skoggard, Ian A. (2004). Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-48321-9 
• Marshall, Peter James (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00254-7 

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