Understanding Society User Support

• Hi,

I have a basic query regarding the estimates of the share of the foreign-born population aged 16 and above based on Understanding Society data. Using the last wave (i_) and weight i_indinui_xw, I get that 10% of the UK population age 16+ is foreign born (in order to calculate this, I use bornuk_dv and i_dvage). However, based on the Annual Population Survey 2019, which is used by the ONS for their population estimates, I get that 16% of the UK resident population aged 16+ is foreign born. I am concerned about this discrepancy because I want to use Understanding Society to estimate certain categories of vulnerable migrant population and then construct population estimates based on the shares.

Best wishes

Marina Fernandez-Reino
Senior Researcher at the Migration Observatory (University of Oxford)