Indians are the second largest migrants settled in the United Kindom, next only to Irish people, according to the data collated for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

There are as many as 466,416 India-born people in the UK as against 494,850 Irish people. Pakistanis come third with 320,767, followed by Germans, 262,276 and Caribbeans, 254,740.

Other migrants included Americans (155,030), Bangladeshis (154,201), South Africans (140,201), Kenyans (129,356) and Italians (107,002).

The economic performance of different groups varied, with refugees from countries such as Iran, Angola and Somalia tending to do worse.

New Zealanders and Filipinos, who tend to arrive on temporary work permits, recorded the highest rates of employment, data collected by experts at Sheffield University said.

Nationals that came to Britain to do low-skilled jobs, such as people born in Bangladesh or Hong Kong, continued to be poorly paid.

Scotland, the south-west and north-east England [Images] -- three of the areas to have seen the least immigration over 50 years -- are among the top locations for recent increases.

In all, more than 4.3 million people born abroad were living in Britain at the time of the 2001 census, an increase of around one million compared with 1991 and two million higher than 30 years ago.