Census data reveal jump in immigration The population of England and Wales is generally better educated but less religious than it was a decade ago, according to the latest update of 2011 census data. People are also less likely to live in a home that they own , according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday. The total population rose by 3.7m to 56.1m, an increase of 7 per cent from the previous census in 2001. Migration was responsible for nearly 60 per cent of that growth - 2.1m people. Of the 13 per cent of the population of England and Wales who were born outside the UK - some 7.5m residents - just over half arrived within the past 10 years. This compares with the 2001 census, when 9 per cent of the population was born outside the UK. The surge of immigration, into London in particular, has been striking. In the capital more than one in three residents was born outside the UK. The top source of new migrants to England and Wales overall for the decade was India - supplanting the Republic of Ireland in the decade to 2001 - while the second-biggest source was Poland. In the 2001 census, Poland did not even make the top 10 as a source of immigrants. The data also show that among those aged over 16, there are more people reporting that they have educational qualifications above A-levels, including a university degree or advanced training, than those with no qualifications. Although the qualifications were classified somewhat differently in 2001, the latest data point to a better educated population. In 2001, roughly a third of the nation reported having no qualifications while about a fifth had a postsecondary qualification. Another area where life has changed is housing. While 64 per cent of residents either owned their home outright or owned with a mortgage, that is down from 68 per cent in 2001. And perhaps in an illustration of the growing inequality that may bar whole swaths of the population from home ownership permanently, a bigger proportion, 31 per cent, owned their homes outright than they did in 2001. The percentage of the population renting from private landlords rose 6 percentage points from a decade earlier to 15 per cent. Britain is apparently becoming less religious. The question on religious affiliation was asked in 2001 and is voluntary, so not all applicants may have answered it. However, the percentage identifying themselves as Christian fell to 59 per cent, from 72 per cent in 2001. Christianity was the only religious group to have experienced a fall in numbers over the decade, despite the growth in the population generally. The second-largest religious identity was none at all and the one showing the biggest rise over the decade. In 2011, a quarter of the population said it had no religious affiliation, up from 15 per cent in 2001.