Pakistani Diaspora in The United Kingdom

Pakistani Diaspora In The United Kingdom

British Pakistanis (Urdu: برطانوی پاکستانی‎; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British citizens whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people who were born in the United Kingdom and are of Pakistani descent, and Pakistani-born people who have migrated to the country. The majority of British Pakistanis are from the Punjab and Kashmir regions, with a smaller number from the Pashtun regions (mainly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sindh and other parts of the country. The United Kingdom is home to the second largest overseas Pakistani community, behind the Pakistani community in Saudi Arabia. British Pakistanis make up the second largest subgroup of British Asians and are also the second largest ethnic minority population in the United Kingdom.

Immigration to the UK from the region which is now Pakistan began in the mid-nineteenth century, but this was fleeting and minuscule in number. During the mid-nineteenth century, parts of Pakistan came under the British Raj and people from those regions served as soldiers in the British Indian Army and some were deployed in other parts of the British Empire. However it was following the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, that Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom increased, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. This was made easier by the fact that Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth. Pakistani immigrants helped to resolve labour shortages in the British steel and textile industries. Doctors from Pakistan were recruited by the National Health Service in the 1960s.

The demographics of British Pakistanis have changed considerably since they first arrived in the UK. The population has grown from about 10,000 in 1951 to roughly 1.2 million today. The most diverse Pakistani population is in London which consists of Punjabis, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Sindhis, Saraikis, Balochis as well as Urdu-speaking people (mostly from Karachi) and others. The majority of British Pakistanis are Muslims; around 90 per cent of those living in England and Wales at the time of the 2001 UK Census stated their religion was Islam, with the remainder belonging to other beliefs. The majority are Sunni Muslims, with a significant minority of Shia Muslims. The UK also has one of the largest overseas Christian Pakistani communities; the 2001 census recorded around 8,000 Christian Pakistanis living in England and Wales.

Many British Pakistanis have established highly successful businesses and belong to middle class lifestyles. However, British Pakistanis also have the second highest overall relative poverty rate in Britain, after British Bangladeshis. A large number of British Pakistanis are self-employed, with a significant number working in the transport industry or in family-run businesses in the retail sector.