Vietnamese people in the United Kingdom

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Vietnamese British people (also British Vietnamese or Vietnamese Britons) are either citizens or non citizen immigrants in the United Kingdom of Vietnamese descent, they are part of the Việt Kiều.

[edit] History and settlement

Mass Vietnamese immigration to the UK started after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, with the UK being one of only six countries accepting refugees. Early immigrants were refugee boat people fleeing persecution by the victorious communists, as well as students, academics and businesspeople. Vietnamese refugees found it fairly difficult to settle in to a British life style, and due to the fact that the Vietnamese British community was previously minute, the new wave of immigrants found it much harder to mix in with than say France or the United States. Many came to the major cities such as London with the majority settling in the Lewisham (Vietnamese is the second most common language in the borough), Southwark and Hackney areas.^{[citation needed]}

Recently, the Vietnamese in Britain have rose to prominence in the British press due to criminal cannabis-growing activities. Some recent economic immigrants also engage in gang and human trafficking.^[2]

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Population

A Vietnamese boat person in a refugee camp, before immigrating to the Western World

The 2001 UK Census recorded 23,347 Vietnamese born people, over 65% of these originate in Northern Vietnam. According to most recent estimates there are at least 55,000 people of Vietnamese origin living in England and Wales, out of this around 20,000 are though to be undocumented migrants and 5,000 are temporary students.^[1] The Vietnamese British community although similar culturally to other East Asian British communities, does not follow the trend of being the largest such community (i.e. Chinese, Filipino, Thai) in Europe.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Distribution

As with most emerging ethnic groups in the UK, the largest concentrations of Vietnamese people can be found in the larger metropolitan areas and cities, such as London (33,000), with the majority (around 1/3 of all Vietnamese Londoners) being located in Lewisham, Southwark and Hackney.^[1] Significant Vietnamese communities also exist in Birmingham (over 4,000), Leeds and Manchester (over 2,500).^[3][4]

[edit] Languages

Although the vast majority of the first Vietnamese immigrants to the UK spoke no English at all, second generation Vietnamese British people as well as more recent immigrants have a better understanding of the English language.^[1] it is unknown how many of the 55,000 Vietnamese people in the UK speak English as a primary or secondary language, but the Vietnamese language is the main language of some 22,000 Vietnamese people in the UK (around half of all Vietnamese people in the UK).^[5]

[edit] Religion

By far the most common religions for Vietnamese people in the UK are Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, which are followed by roughly 80% and 20% (respectively) of the total community's total population. This quite different from the actual religious breakdown of Vietnam, where 85% of the population is Buddhist and 7% are Roman Catholic.^[6]

[edit] Education and employment

Amongst the first Vietnamese refugees in the country, it was estimated that 76% received education below secondary school level. According to 2001 findings, only 18.7% of London's Vietnamese born population had higher level qualifications, which is 15% lower than London average. Despite this in the London borough of Lewisham, Vietnamese pupils along with Chinese and Indians outperformed all other ethnic groups, with Vietnamese girls being more successful than Vietnamese boys. The lack of proper education along with the vast majority of people in the community not being able to speak English meant that finding employment became difficult (around 23.5% of London's Vietnamese born community of a working ages are unemployed). Over recent years, the nail industry has become the fastest growing business sector within the Vietnamese British community, it is though that in London, over half of all Vietnamese owned businesses revolve around this industry. Catering is also a significant employer for the Vietnamese British community. The education and employment figures for second generation Vietnamese Britons (i.e. British born people of Vietnamese origin) are unknown.^[1]

[edit] Social issues

Lewisham in London is home to the UK's largest Vietnamese community, Vietnamese also prevails as the areas second most common language

[edit] Health

A PRIAE study in 2005 showed a high number of cases of osteoporosis and memory problems amongst elderly Vietnamese people in the UK. It is believed that the Vietnamese community in the UK finds it extremely difficult to gain access to the country's health services, the main reasons for this include unfamiliarity with the British health and social care sectors, Vietnamese cultural beliefs, financial difficulties, lack of sympathy and support from professionals, as well as many immigrants being incapable of speaking English or being able to understand it in written form.^[1]

[edit] Housing

A study by Refugee Action showed that during the years leading up to 1993, the majority of Vietnamese British people were concentrated in overcrowded local authority housing. More recent findings state the reasons for South East Asians in the UK requesting council housing as being because they were told to leave home, health/ medical issues and relationship breakdowns.^[1]

[edit] See also

• East Asian people in the United Kingdom
• Vietnamese people
• Overseas Vietnamese
• Notable Britons of Vietnamese descent
• Vietnamese American

[edit] External links

• Vietnamese London
• BBC Vietnamese in Birmingham
• Vietnamese people in Birmingham

[edit] Bibliography

• Mai Sims, Jessica: The Vietnamese Community in Great Britain - Thirty Years On [1]

[edit] References

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