According to a forthcoming report, the past decade has seen a net increase of 275,000 in the number of Muslims who were born in Pakistan or Bangladesh but are now living in Britain. – the equivalent to twice the population of Oxford. The number of Somali-born UK residents has also risen sharply, from fewer than 40,000 in 1999 to 106,700 this year.
Many of the newcomers are part of a trend of onward migration from European Union countries, coming to the UK after being subject to “latent Islamaphobia” abroad, according to the report. “Migration has caused an increase in the proportions of the population affiliated to non-Christian faiths,” says the report.
The report “Faith, Migration and Integration in the UK” will be published in January 2010 by the left-of-centre think tank Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), http://www.ippr.org.uk.
