As of June 2021 there around 342 thousand Romanians living in the United Kingdom. Between 2008 and 2019 the Romanian population of the United Kingdom increased by 413 thousand, with the biggest annual increase of 95 thousand occurring between 2015 and 2016. However, by June 2021 the number of Romanians living in the United Kingdom decreased by 108 thousand.

UK residents by broad country of birth and citizenship groups, broken down by UK country, local authority, unitary authority, metropolitan and London boroughs, and counties. Estimates from the Annual Population Survey.

In 2020, there were approximately 815,000 Polish nationals living in the United Kingdom, the most of any European Union member state. Additionally, there were 404,000 Romanians, and 321,000 Irish nationals living in the UK in this year. Luxembourg was the EU member state with the fewest citizens living in the UK, at just 520 in 2019. In terms of British nationals living in the EU, Spain was the most popular destination, at almost 285,000 Britons, followed by France and Germany, which had British populations numbering 145,000 and 110,000 respectively. The EU settlement scheme After the Brexit referendum of 2016, the fate of EU citizens living in the UK, as well as that of British nationals in the EU, was suddenly unclear. Although the rights of EU citizens to remain in the UK was affirmed at various points during the Brexit negotiations, the EU settlement scheme to handle this issue wasn't launched until 2019. As of March 2024, there have been almost 7.9 million applications to this scheme, with Romanian nationals being the most common nationality, followed by 1.23 million applications from Polish nationals, and 686,820 from Italian nationals. Migration still one of the top issues for voters In June 2024, immigration was seen as the third most important issue for voters, and was consistently ahead of many other issues in the months leading up to UK's 2024 general election. Net migration to the UK has risen sharply since 2021, reaching 745,000 in 2022, and remaining high in 2023. Although there has been a clear decline in net migration from EU nationals since the Brexit vote, there has been a far larger increase in non-EU net migration. Despite, pledging to bring immigration down, the previous Conservative government gradually lost trust on this issue with voters, with just 15 percent seeing them as the best party at dealing with immigration, compared with 20 percent who thought Labour would handle it best.

In 2019, there were approximately 302,020 British citizens living in Spain, with a further 293,061 in Ireland and 176,672 in France. By comparison, there were only 604 British people living in Slovenia, the fewest of any European Union member state. As a member of the European Union, British citizens had the right to live and work in any EU member state. Although these rights were lost for most British citizens after the UK left the EU in 2020, Britons already living in EU states were able to largely retain their previous rights of residence. EU citizens living in the UK EU citizens living in the UK face the same dilemma that British nationals did regarding their legal status after Brexit. In the same year, there were 902,000 Polish citizens, 404,000 Romanians, and 322,000 people from the Republic of Ireland living in the UK in that year, along with almost 2 million EU citizens from the other 24 EU member states. To retain their rights after Brexit, EU citizens living in the UK were able to apply for the EU settlement scheme. As of March 2024, there have been around 7.9 million applications to this scheme, with Romanian and Polish nationals the most common nationality at 1.71 million applications, and 1.23 million applications respectively. Is support for Brexit waning in 2024? As of May 2024, the share of people in the UK who think leaving the EU was the wrong decision stood at 55 percent, compared with 31 percent who think it was the correct choice. In general, support for Brexit has gradually eroded since April 2021, when 46 percent of people supported Brexit, compared with 43 percent who regretted it. What people think Britain's relationship with the EU should be is, however, still unclear. A survey from November 2023 indicated that just 31 percent thought the UK should rejoin the EU, with a further 11 percent supporting rejoining the single market, but not the EU. Only ten percent of respondents were satisfied with the current relationship, while nine percent wished to reduce ties even further.

The most frequently chosen country for emigration by Romanians in 2022 was Germany, with a share of about 22 percent of the total number of emigrants. Italy ranked second, being chosen by roughly 14 percent of Romanian emigrants.

As recorded by the source, Moroccans ranked as the foreign nationality with more residents in Spain in 2023, closely followed by Romanians. After years of losing its foreign population, Spain’s immigration figures started to pick up in 2015, with the number of people that moved to the Mediterranean country surpassing the number of foreigners that decided to leave.

A matter of balance The net migration rate of Spain changed its course mainly due to the great inflow of foreigners that move to reside in the Mediterranean country. Spain’s immigration flow slowed down after the 2008 financial crisis, albeit the number of foreigners that opted to change their residence saw a significant growth in the last years. In 2022, Colombians ranked first as the foreign nationality that most relocated to Spain, distantly followed by Moroccans and Ukranians.

Spain does not have the highest number of immigrants in Europe In recent years, the European Union confronted a rising number of refugees arriving from the Middle East. Migration figures show that Germany accommodated approximately 15 million foreign-born citizens, ranking it as the country that most hosted immigrants in Europe in 2022. By comparison, Spain’s foreign population stood slightly over seven million, positioning the Western Mediterranean country third on the European list of foreign-born population. Unfortunately, thousands of persons have died ore gone missing trying to reach Spanish territory, as more and more irregular migrants opt to use dangerous maritime routes to arrive at Southern Europe from Africa's coasts.

In 2023/24, 9,844 men were reported to be sleeping rough in London with a further 1,870 women, and eleven non-binary people. Since 2010/11 there has been an increase in the number of people reported to be sleeping rough in London, increasing from almost 4,000 in 2010/11 to more than 10,000 by 2022/23. Throughout this time period, the majority of people seen to be sleeping rough in London have been men. Characteristics of homeless people in London Of the rough sleepers seen in London in 2022/23, the most common age group were those aged between 36 and 45, which accounted for 32.1 percent of all rough sleepers. In terms of nationality, most rough sleepers were from the United Kingdom at 4,265 people, with Romanian being the second-highest nationality, at 1,031 people. The London Borough which had the highest number of people sleeping rough was Westminster, at 2,050 people, while the borough of Sutton had the fewest rough sleepers, at 30. Tragic implications of homelessness In 2021, 143 homeless people in London lost their lives, which was the highest number of homeless deaths per region in England and Wales. In terms of the homeless death rate, the worst region was also London, at 22.5 deaths per million people in 2021. North West England had the second-highest deaths per million people, at 21. Between 2013 and 2019, the number of homeless deaths in England and Wales increased from 392 to 563, before falling to 490 in 2020 and 480 in 2021.

In 2024, Germany was the leading EU country in terms of population, with around 85 million inhabitants. In 2050, approximately 89.2 million people will live in Germany, according to the forecast. See the total EU population figures for more information. The global population The global population is rapidly increasing. Between 1990 and 2015, it increased by around 2 billion people. Furthermore, it is estimated that the global population will have increased by another 1 billion by 2030. Asia is the continent with the largest population, followed by Africa and Europe. In Asia,the two most populous nations worldwide are located, China and India. In 2014, the combined population in China and India alone amounted to more than 2.6 billion people. for comparison, the total population in the whole continent of Europe is at around 741 million people. As of 2014, about 60 percent of the global population was living in Asia, with only approximately 10 percent in Europe and even less in the United States. Europe is the continent with the second-highest life expectancy at birth in the world, only barely surpassed by Northern America. In 2013, the life expectancy at birth in Europe was around 78 years. Stable economies and developing and emerging markets in European countries provide for good living conditions. Seven of the top twenty countries in the world with the largest gross domestic product in 2015 are located in Europe.

According to the estimates published by the Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations (FAO), Romania, the United Kingdom (UK), and Germany had the highest number of horses among the countries of the old 28 country strong European Union.

Horses in human culture

Horses play a huge role in human cultures, with uses in leisure activities, sport and for working purposes. Equestrian sports, such as show jumping and dressage, focus on the level of control and balance between horse and rider, while working roles include mounted police units and search and rescue teams. Currently, there are over three hundred breeds of horse worldwide.

Equestrian sports on the British Isles

In 2019, around 18,400 companies worked on raising horses and other equines in Great Britain. Almost 5,500 horses were registered with the British Equestrian Federation, the UKs national body for equestrian sports. For more information about Equestrian sports in the UK visit our topic page.

In Ireland about 1,600 horses, that were aged six years or older, were in race horse training. On average the price of a race horse in the country came to over 28.5 thousand euros.