The number of people with multiple passports in England and Wales has doubled in a decade, official data shows, with the rise thought to be partly down to Brexit.
There was a fivefold increase in people born in the UK holding both British and EU passports, according to an analysis of Census 2021 figures.
Jay Lindop from the Office for National Statistics said: “The number of people with dual citizenship has doubled since 2011, with more than 1.2 million usual residents in England and Wales now holding multiple passports.
“This change has been partly driven by migration over the decade, with an increase in people moving here from the EU. As people who have settled in England and Wales go on to have children, we can see an increase in dual citizenship among the younger ages.
“The rise in dual citizens may also suggest greater uptake of additional passports following the end of free movement when the UK left the European Union.”
The ONS said in 2021 a total of 1.26 million usual residents of England and Wales held multiple passports – representing 2.1% of the population. That was up from 612,000 people in 2011. The majority of usual residents across the two nations – 84.4% or 50.3 million – held only one passport in 2021.
While the number of UK/EU passports held increased by five times over the 10-year period for UK-born residents, there was a threefold rise for non-UK-born residents since 2011.
There was also a fivefold increase in UK-born residents holding both British and Irish passports across the period.
There were age differences among dual citizens, with the rise in UK-born British and European dual citizens driven by younger age groups, but British/Irish passport holders being older, the ONS said.
Nearly 60% of dual citizens born in the UK and holding both UK and EU passports were under 16, while a little more than a third of UK and non-EU dual citizens were in that age group.
UK/EU dual citizens had a median age of 12. For EU-only passport holders, it was eight years old on average. Non-EU dual citizens had a median age of 22, and UK/Irish dual citizens were older, with a median age of 47. For Irish-only passport holders, the median age was 33.
A rise in UK/Irish dual citizens across the decade was most apparent in those aged 50 to 70, the ONS said, adding that this suggested many took up their dual nationality recently despite moving to England and Wales years ago.
The top five UK/EU passports for UK-born dual citizens were primarily held by children or young adults, with Ireland having the only older population, the ONS said.
For UK/French and UK/German passport holders the median age was 15, for UK/Polish it was seven and for UK/Italian it was 20.
The five most common non-EU passports for UK-born dual citizens showed a wider variety of average ages, with UK-Australian having a median age of 39, UK-US 21, UK-Nigerian 19, UK-Canadian 36, and UK-New Zealand 28.
The ONS said the young ages of most UK/other dual citizens suggested they were the children of first-generation migrants.
The statistics body said the reasons for holding multiple passports were likely to differ between those who held a UK passport first and those who held a non-UK passport first, noting that the census did not collect data on when passports were acquired.
