Vietnamese immigration to the United Kingdom started after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, with the UK accepting refugees from Hong Kong, a British colony at the time. Most early immigrants were refugee boat people fleeing persecution by the victorious North Vietnamese communists; the rest were students, academics or business people. Vietnamese refugees initially found it fairly difficult to settle into the United Kingdom, owing to the climate, lack of availability of foodstuffs traditionally employed in Vietnamese cuisine, and inability to speak English. Because the Vietnamese community in the United Kingdom was then small, the new wave of immigrants found it much more complex to integrate into their host country compared to immigrants in Australia, France or the United States, where the Vietnamese communities were much larger. Many Vietnamese immigrants began gravitating towards larger cities such as London, with the majority settling in the Lewisham, Southwark and Hackney areas. The existence of much larger and more established overseas Chinese communities in Britain has had a significant though perhaps understated effect in helping the new immigrants setting roots in their new country.
Demographics
Population
The 2001 UK Census recorded 23,347 people born in Vietnam with over 65% of these originated in Northern Vietnam. A study published in 2007 reported that community organisations estimated that there were at least 55,000 Vietnamese in England and Wales, and that 20,000 of these people were undocumented migrants and at least 5,000 were overseas students. The Office for National Statistics estimates that in 2014, 28,000 people born in Vietnam were resident in the UK.
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, with the majority being located in Lewisham, Southwark and Hackney. Significant Vietnamese communities also exist in Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. According to the 2011 census, the cities with the most Vietnam-born residents are London, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Northampton, Cambridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol and Leicester.
Languages
Although the majority of the first Vietnamese immigrants to the UK spoke no English at all, second generation Vietnamese descendants as well as more recent immigrants have a better understanding of the English language. It is unknown how many of the 55,000 Vietnamese people in the UK speak English as a primary or secondary language; according to Ethnologue, Vietnamese is the main language of 15,200 UK residents.
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% of the total community's total population. This is quite similar to the religious breakdown of Vietnam, where 85% of the population are Buddhists and 7% are Roman Catholic.
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% below the 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. Because of the lack of formal education or recognised qualifications, and because the vast majority of Vietnamese in London could originally not speak much English, finding employment was very difficult. Over recent years, the nail industry has become the fastest growing business sector for Vietnamese people: it is thought that in London, over half of all Vietnamese owned businesses revolve around this industry. Catering remains a historically significant employer for the Vietnamese community as a whole. Education and employment statistics for second generation British-born people of Vietnamese origin are largely uncollated.
Social issues
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, and financial difficulties, as well as many immigrants being incapable of speaking English or being able to understand it in written form.
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 the family home, health/medical issues and relationship breakdowns.
