Latin American migration to the United Kingdom

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Latin American migration to the United Kingdom dates back to the early 19th century. Before the 1970s, when political and civil unrest became widespread in many Latin American countries, the United Kingdom's Latin American community was relatively small.^[2] Since then, economic migration to the United Kingdom has increased, with Brazilian- and Colombian-born residents now forming the two largest Latin American groups, standing at an estimated 79,000 and 16,000, respectively, as of 2020/21.^[3] A significant number of refugees and asylum seekers also moved to the UK during the late 20th century. However, since the turn of the century, Latin Americans have been migrating to the UK for a diverse range of reasons. Today, the community comprises individuals from various socioeconomic backgrounds.^[4] Additionally, the UK is home to British-born people of Latin American ancestry. During the 2008–2014 Spanish financial crisis, Britain became one of the preferred European destinations for some of the approximately 1.4 million Latin Americans who had acquired Spanish citizenship.^[5]