Craigavon tops list of migrants

The study discovered that in 2001 there were 1,110 migrants in the Craigavon area but this number had shot up to 6,712 in 2012.

Belfast has the largest number (18,414) followed by Craigavon (6,712) and Dungannon (5,998).

However, Dungannon saw the biggest change in its population of residents born outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland between 2001-2011. It increased more than tenfold from 484 in 2001 to 5,998 in 2011.

Between 2001 and 2011, the total population born outside of the UK and the Republic of Ireland grew numerically the most in Belfast (+11,873) followed by Craigavon (+5,602).

Northern Ireland’s migrant population has tripled in a decade.

The top five counties with the highest population in NI are Poland, Lithuania, India, USA and Germany.

In Craigavon these countries’ population share were Poland 31.88% of the migrant population, Lithuania 16.30%, India 2.82%, USA 1.49% and Germany 2.98% with the other 44.53% made up of other nationalities.

Dr Carlos Vargas-Silvam who led the census project, said: “Northern Ireland saw a 199% increase in its population of residents born outside the UK and the RoI in the 10 years between 2001-2011.

“But it is important to note that these residents were less than 2% of the total population of Northern Ireland in 2001 and remained less than 5% in 2011.