How many Nepali's in the UK? "About 10,000."

Can only apologise again for not posting in a long time, 2013 has suddenly become a studious year so I don't find myself writing epic blogs at the moment. However, I do have lots to share, so do check in from time to time :-)

How many Nepali's are in the UK? Every time I get asked that question, for as long as I can remember I have said "about 10,000". I have no idea where the basis of that figure comes from, but as we know, it is waaaaay out of date. Mind you, when I was a wee lad, I could have been confident by broadcasting zero, but hey kids grow up and life is not it seems. So how many Nepali's are in the UK? Some google research:

42,000 in 2010 (According to the Office of National Statistics)
50,000 in 2010 (According to Community Leaders)
5,943 in 2001 (According the 2001 Census)
20,000 in 2008 (some random figure someone echoed to me once)
80,000 in 2012 (Centre for Nepal Studies, Southampton)

Most of those figures are according to Wikipedia, and we all trust Wikipedia right? There might be some creditability in the 2001 Census, but its 2013 now, alot of stuff has happened! Nepali's are everywhere! There are regular civilians, labourers, professionals, ex-Gurkhas, serving Army personnel, security dudes, musicians on tour, illegals, musicians going AWOL etc, so who really knows the real figure (a good estimate at least)? About 10,000?

Omid Djalili portraying the Polish plumber! [5]

I don't know if anyone remembers this, but there was a news article back in January 2013 about Polish now being the 2nd most spoken language in Britain, this "news" made the rounds with the main broadcasters and newspapers at the time, as to surprise people, but it didn't really surprise me. When the Polish were just settling in, there were rumoured to be about 15,000 in my home city, and since then, the Polish have largely integrated quietly in to British Society. I had Polish neighbours once, noisy lot, but vast majority of Polish I have come across are good folks and have a good work ethic - even had a few do some work on my bathroom - nice polite guys. Anyway, I'm digressing.

I went to read into the details of this "new" fact of the Polish language. The origin of this report came from data that was released from the recent 2011 Census. The Guardian, where they have a blog about data, released a cool interactive map, that describes the percentage of people who speak a non-English language in every council district in England and Wales. It's quite neat, you can zoom into the council area where you live and view the top 20 non-English languages spoken in your area. There is also a preselected list of cities and languages and you can view the distribution of non-English languages spoken or where certain languages are spoken.

What was more interesting though, the Guardian released the spreadsheet data behind the information that was driving the interactive map, so I curiously went to have a look to see if Nepali was listed there, expecting no result but the usual 'Other Asian'. Low and behold, there it was, I couldn't believe it, a list of all the council districts in England and Wales and the number of people who declared they spoke Nepali as their first language. Since January 2013, I've meaning to do something useful with the data, so people can make some thing of it. As far as I am aware, I noticed only one public article that took advantage of the information in the spreadsheet data the Guardian released, and it was a reporter by the name of Amy Taylor. Amy used the data on Nepali speakers to highlight in Rushmoor, 6.2% of the Rushmoor population speak Nepali.

Now you must be thinking, wouldn't it be cool if we could go one better and see elegantly where Nepali is spoken in England and Wales. Yes please! It's been two months since the data has been available and I'm surprised no one did anything with the information, but hey who cares about the minority. Some people do!! I have some very crude heatmaps here, and I could develop them further if anyone is interested, but take a look, and see for yourself. Much more sexy and revealing than a set of numbers, right? (Trouble viewing? Try the 'Zoom In' option a few times on your browser)

No. of declared Nepali Speakers as their first and main language in England and Wales (Source: Census 2011) [1]

If you know where the Nepali's mostly congregate, then the above map should reveal no surprises. The dark blue parts are where at least 732 people declared they speak Nepali as their main language, the dark purplish colour is where between 366 and 731 declared they spoke Nepali as their first language, and then the really faint light purple is where between 0 and 365 declared they spoke Nepali as their first language. The big square map on the right is a map of London. I specifically picked 732 or more because it's at that point where the top 20 districts are revealed as having the most Nepali speakers as their first language at 733 or more speakers, and if you must know, here they are:

Rushmoor 5584
Greenwich 5058
Reading 2430
Brent 2342
Ealing 2302
Hounslow 2287
Shepway 2106
Ashford 1602
Hillingdon 1515
Harrow 1328
Swindon 1263
Maidstone 1227
Basingstoke and Deane 995
Bracknell Forest 988
Newham 915
Wiltshire 825
Richmondshire 819
Barnet 811
Surrey Heath 733

As you begin to bring down that number of 732, to say half i.e. 316, the map starts revealing the next set of districts where Nepali is spoken as a first or main language. You'll notice the districts (or areas) that were dark purple, are now included with the rest of dark blue coloured areas in the previous map. It's interesting to see where other Nepali speaking populations live in the UK, places like Colchester and Doncaster were surprises to me. See the interactive maps in my references later to hover over the maps I've created. It will reveal the area your mouse is pointing at together with the number of Nepali speakers.

No. of declared Nepali Speakers as their first and main language in England and Wales (Source: Census 2011) [2]

Looking at the heatmap below, taking this figure 316 and dropping it to where at least 18 people declared they speak Nepali as their first language, you see England and Wales covered in more dark blue patches. I picked 18 because that's where the top 50% of districts where at least 18 people declared they spoke Nepali as their first language, which really brings home how much of a minority many Nepali's are in their local communities.

No. of declared Nepali Speakers as their first and main language in England and Wales (Source: Census 2011) [3]

and finally just for a laugh, I thought I have a look to see where the odd lonely Nepali speaker is living. One lonely person on the Isle of Wight (laughing to myself). Notice the yellow patches, there are no Nepali speakers there, which makes me suspicious of that one patch in the middle of London.

No. of declared Nepali Speakers as their first and main language in England and Wales (Source: Census 2011) [4]

If you found that interesting, just say "I found that interesting" : - ). Personally I have no use for this information apart from fulfilling my curiosity and learning how to share information differently to view a different perspective on things. But for some of you, you probably want to do more with it, I hope this gives you a head start.


Interactive versions of the maps I posted above:
[1] 732 or more Nepali speakers:  http://www.openheatmap.com/view.html?map=QuadrienniumutileChronophersTectrices
[2] 361or more Nepali speakers: http://www.openheatmap.com/view.html?map=BiddingsForepolesCirrhopetalums
[3] 18 or more Nepali speakers:  http://www.openheatmap.com/view.html?map=DogmaUltraselectPrizewoman
[4] 2 or more Nepali speakers: http://www.openheatmap.com/view.html?map=NordgrensCaciliesMisbegins
[5] http://www.popscreen.com/v/65JUg/Omid-Djalili-Show-Polish-Plumber (Last Accessed: 02/04/2013)