British Pakistanis (Urdu: برطانیہ میں مقیم پاکستانی; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestors came from Pakistan. The community is well into its third generation and consists of around 1.8 million individuals, the second-largest Pakistani population living outside of Pakistan, after the United Arab Emirates. It includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent and Pakistani-born people who have went to the UK. Most British people of Pakistani origin were born in the United Kingdom, as opposed to Pakistan itself. Most British Pakistanis are originally from the Azad Kashmir and Punjab regions, with a smaller number from other parts of Pakistan including Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The UK is home to the largest Pakistani community in Europe, with the amount of British Pakistanis living there exceeding 1.8 million based on the 2011 census. British Pakistanis are the second-largest racial minority population in the United Kingdom and also make up the second-largest sub-group of British Asians. They are also one of the largest overseas Pakistani communities, similar in number to people who have Pakistani heritage in Saudi Arabia.[2][3]
Early history
Pakistanis have been present in the UK since the start of the 19th century, but by far the largest wave of migration occurred right after the Second World War. The historical relations between both countries goes through the British Empire from the region that is now Pakistan started in small numbers in the mid-19th century. Parts of what is now Pakistan was then ruled by the British Raj. People from those regions were soldiers in the British Indian Army. and some were deployed in other parts of the British Empire.
Major Pakistani migration to the United Kingdom began in the early 1900s, the British Empire formally annexed the region in 1850, with the residents of British-ruled Pakistan becoming subjects of The Crown. Some started to immigrate during the colonial rule in the 1920s, but immigration increased during the 1950s and 1960s. After the Second World War, the break-up of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan made Pakistani immigration to the United Kingdom go up, especially during the 1950s and the 1960s. That was made easier as Pakistan was a member of the Commonwealth.[4] Pakistani immigrants helped to sort out the job shortages in the British steel, textile and engineering industries. Doctors from Pakistan were recruited by the National Health Service in the 1960s.[5]
Most British Pakistanis are Muslim; around 90 percent of those living in England and Wales at the time of the 2011 census said that their religion was Islam.[8][9] Most are Sunni Muslims, but there are also many Shia Muslims. The UK also has one of the largest overseas Christian Pakistani communities; the 2011 census recorded around 17,000 Christian Pakistanis living in England and Wales, which was 1.52 percent of the Pakistanis there.
Social influence
Since their settlement, British Pakistanis have had many different contributions and influence on British society, politics, culture, economy and sport. Social issues include high relative poverty rates among the community according to the 2001 census,[10] but some progress has been made in recent years, with the 2011 census showing British Pakistanis as having some the highest levels of home ownership in Britain.[11]
Traditionally, many British Pakistanis have employed themselves, with many working in the transport industry or the retail sector's family-run businesses.[2]
↑Department for Communities and Local Government. "The Pakistani Muslim Community in England"(PDF). Department for Communities and Local Government. pp. 5–11 (6), 36–41. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2010. In London the community is more mixed and includes comparable numbers of Punjabis, Pathans and Kashmiris. There are also small communities of Sindhis and Balochis in London.
