Flight of white Britons from Britain leaps to 70,000 per year

According to Government estimates, the established white population of England dropped by nearly 250,000 between 2002 and 2006. Official figures have previously indicated that about 50,000 Britons head for Australia each year and about 30,000 for New Zealand. In 2007, a record 400,000 left the country to live abroad for at least 12 months. The new estimates, which show how each ethnic group grew or diminished between 2005 and 2006, provide further evidence of so-called white flight. The white British population went down by 70,400 over the year through emigration. And the white Irish population fell by 4,600 because of emigration, bringing the total decline in the existing white population to 75,000. The figures have been calculated for every year back to 2002 - and this was the biggest decline yet. In the previous year, there had been a drop of just 42,300. In 2004, there was a fall of 74,100. Even though there were more births than deaths, the white British and Irish population still fell by almost 15,000 in 2006. The estimates were greeted with alarm by the immigration think-tank Migration Watch. Its chairman Sir Andrew Green said: 'The unavoidable conclusion is that the whole nature of our society will change very rapidly unless the Government moves from spin to serious action, which the vast majority of the public want to see.' Previous surveys by officials have shown that most of those who emigrate go to Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain or the U.S. The most popular is Australia. About 220,000 more Britons have gone to Australia than vice versa between 1996 and 2006. And 40,000 more Britons than Canadians have switched between the two countries.