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The Irish diaspora is said to number more people outside of Ireland than at home. Of these various Irish communities abroad the Irish community in Britain has, because of the proximity, the longest history.
The 2001 British census was the first one which allowed British citizens to express an Irish ethnicity. In all previous British census results figures for the Irish community were based on Irish birthplace.
In 2001 the percentage claiming Irish ethnicity in England and Wales were 1.2%, while the figure for Scotland was 0.98%.
The distributions across the country were:
3.07% of Londoners were Irish (of 7,172,036 inhabitants), 4.65% of Luton, 3.77% of Manchester, 1.2% of Liverpool, 3.46% of Coventry, 3.22% of Birmingham, 2.89% of Watford, 2.8% of Trafford, 2.28% of Corby, 2.19% of Hertsmere, 2.07% of Solihull, 2% of Warwick, 1.98% of Glasgow, 1.64% of West Dunbartonshire and 1.44% of Edinburgh.
1.39% of the West Midlands, 0.85% of the East Midlands 1.15% of Northwest England, 0.35% in the Northeast, 1.14% of Eastern England, 0.66% in Yorkshire and the Humber, 1.03% of the Southeast, 0.66% in the Southwest, and 0.61% in Wales.