Data compiled during last year’s census in Northern Ireland and Britain shows that the number of Irish-born living in England and Wales has fallen sharply from years past.

The Irish Times reports on the data from last year’s census, which does not reflect the new trend of Irish emigration over the past 18 months. Census data shows that the number of Irish-born in England and Wales has fallen from 628,800 in 2001 to 504,900 last year.

The drop accounts for a shift from 1.2 percent Irish-born in 2001 to only 0.9 percent in 2011. Despite that, the number of other “white” populations has risen by 2.6 points to 4.4 percent, with the rise attributed partly to the EU enlargement in 2004.

The Irish population in Britain shows a trend of decline over several decades. In the 1970s, it fell by 50,000. In the early 1980s, it fell by over 100,000, but bounced back up by 80,000 following that decade’s upswing in Irish emigration.

The number of Irish passport holders in Britain also fell from the top spot in the 2001 census. In 2001, there were 473,000 Irish passport holders in Britain, just 20,000 ahead of Indian passport holders. Last year’s census showed that the number of Irish passport holders fell to 407,000, while the Indians bounced to the top spot with 694,000.

The census data also showed that there are 36,000 people from the Republic of Ireland who were working in London. Scotland, the southwest and southeast of England, Yorkshire and Humberside and Merseyside have fewer than 10,000 Irish workers each. The East Midlands has 36,000.

The total population now stands at 56.1 million, an increase of 3.7 million people from a decade ago, a seven-point rise. 55 percent of the 3.7 million people increase is attributed to immigration into the country. The changing demographic of the country is reflected in London, where less than half of all Londoners are white British.