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Wales

Swansea

Updated 30 Jun 2026 · Home Office
Carolyn Harris
Carolyn HarrisLabour · Neath and Swansea East

2 MPs cover constituencies in or overlapping Swansea.

618 people on asylum support in Swansea

Rank 48 of 361 councils nationally. The rate of 24.78 per 10,000 puts Swansea in the 88th percentile. That means this area carries more than most. 18 of them receive subsistence only and are not in Home Office accommodation. Accommodation and support for 618 people at £107 per person per day is about £24.1M a year.

What asylum costs Swansea

£14.0Mestimated hotel costs/year
£1.6Msubsistence payments/year
£742KLA dispersal grant/year

Estimates based on 618 people on asylum support in Swansea(0.66% of 93,293 nationally at 30 Jun 2026). Hotel costs pro-rated from £5.77M/day national spend in 2024/25 (House of Commons Library, CDP-2025-0184). Subsistence: £49.18/week per person.

Swansea: asylum numbers falling

Quarter-end stock series to Dec 2025. A rise or fall is a net change in the number of people on support at period end, not the number of new claims or distinct people moving through the caseload. Support stock also overlaps with, but is not identical to, the awaiting-decision backlog.

701
9866573290Mar 2014Dec 2025Peak Mar 2018Rwanda schemeAlbania dealBibby StockholmRwanda scrapped
Exact values
PeriodValue
Mar 2014510
Jun 2014523
Sept 2014556
Dec 2014616
Mar 2015679
Jun 2015773
Sept 2015776
Dec 2015843
Mar 2016886
Jun 2016913
Sept 2016910
Dec 2016923
Mar 2017900
Jun 2017879
Sept 2017866
Dec 2017906
Mar 2018986
Jun 2018970
Sept 2018969
Dec 2018942
Mar 2019933
Jun 2019894
Sept 2019883
Dec 2019856
Mar 2020928
Jun 2020925
Sept 2020932
Dec 2020905
Mar 2021875
Jun 2021768
Sept 2021704
Dec 2021714
Mar 2022707
Jun 2022787
Sept 2022775
Dec 2022756
Mar 2023718
Jun 2023906
Sept 2023811
Dec 2023698
Mar 2024839
Jun 2024844
Sept 2024807
Dec 2024786
Mar 2025767
Jun 2025730
Sept 2025709
Dec 2025701

Trend

-8Latest quarter change
+191Change across series
48Official data points

Local numbers

Accommodation split

Dispersal accommodation600
Initial accommodation0
Subsistence only18
Contingency accommodation0

Pathway breakdown

Supported asylum
618
Homes for Ukraine
361
Afghan programme
61
Resettlement cumulative
164

Other routes

Homes for Ukraine361
Afghan programme61
Resettlement cumulative164

Population context

All pathways total1,040
Share of local population0.42%

Ethnic composition projection

Swansea: White British 87.5% (2021) to 69.5% (2051).

Ethnic composition: Swansea

024487296% of populationCensus 2021White British 69% in 2051White Other 8% in 2051Asian 11% in 2051Black 4% in 2051Mixed 4% in 2051Other 4% in 205120112021203120412051
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther

Each line shows one ethnic group's share of the local population. The shaded band is the 80% confidence range. Values after 2051 are illustrative only.

Ethnic composition: Swansea

Census 2011, Census 2021, then Hamilton-Perry projections to 2051. Percentages.

2011
91%
2021
88%
2026proj
85%
2031proj
82%
2036proj
79%
2041proj
76%
9%
2046proj
72%
10%
2051proj
69%
8%
11%
White BritishWhite OtherAsianBlackMixedOther
Model: Hamilton-Perry single-year CCRs, 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations, SNPP-constrained

Census 2011 to 2021 cohort change ratios. Shaded band = 80% confidence interval from stochastic perturbation. Not a forecast.

Religion projection

Muslim 3.5% (2021) → 6.0% (2051). Christian 44.3% → 11.2%.

Religion: Swansea

022436586%Census 2021Christian 11% in 2051No religion 81% in 2051Muslim 6% in 20512021203120412051
ChristianNo religionMuslim

Religious affiliation projected from Census 2021 self-identification. Trends reflect demographic change in the existing population, not religious conversion.

Nativity

9.4% foreign-born (2021). Diversity: moderately diverse (entropy 0.31). 95.2% main language English.

UK-born vs foreign-born: Swansea

427507396%Census 2021UK-born 68% in 2051Foreign-born 33% in 20512021203120412051
UK-bornForeign-born

Share of the local population born outside the UK. Movement reflects both new arrivals and the UK-born children of existing residents reaching adulthood.

low immigration: Limited ethnic diversity. Projections primarily driven by national trends.

Why Swansea is changing

-4pp
National trend
-6.4pp
Age structure
-0.9pp
Local migration
+3.3pp

White British change 2011-2021. Cyan = decline. Amber = growth.

Dominant driver: national trend. Shift-share methodology following Franklin (2014).

Full demographic profileSchool pressure, housing demand, service demand scoring, economic profile, language projections, and more on UK Demographics.View Swansea on UK Demographics →