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Polish is the second language of Britain and nearly 140,000 people living here can't speak English at all

Polish is the main language of 546,000 people in England and Wales
One in five people in London have a main language which is not English
Just 22,000 people use sign language, according to the 2011 Census
Half of people drive to work and 80% say they are in good health

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 12:45, 30 January 2013 | UPDATED: 13:45, 30 January 2013

Polish is the now the second language in England and Wales with more than half a million speakers.

New figures from the 2011 Census also revealed 140,000 could not speak English at all.

More than one in five people in London said English was not their first language and in all but three London boroughs in the capital more than 100 main languages were listed.
Polish shops have sprung up across the country to cater for more than half a million Polish speakers

Polish shops have sprung up across the country to cater for more than half a million Polish speakers
Enlarge A breakdown of the main 20 languages spoken by people in the UK, according to the 2011 Census

Polish was the second most commonly reported main language in England and Wales with 546,000 speakers.

More than half a million Poles who here during the last decade.

Of the four million residents of England and Wales who spoke a main language other than English, 1.7 million said they could speak English very well, 726,000 could speak English but not well and 138,000 could not speak English at all.

Redcar and Cleveland local authority had the highest percentage of people with English as their main language at 99 per cent of the population, with Ealing listing the highest proportion of Polish speakers at 6 per cent of the population.

London had the highest proportion, at 22 per cent, of people who reported that English was not their main language.

English was the main language for 92 per cent of residents (50 million people) aged three or older across England and Wales. Meanwhile, only 22,000 people used sign language.

The 2011 Census was the first to ask how well people could speak English when this was not their main form of communication.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 138,000 residents could not speak the language at all. Some 726,000 had a weak grasp of English.

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Around 1.6 million could speak the language 'well' while around 1.7 million could speak it 'very well'.

The national tongue is not the main language for about four million residents - around eight per cent of the population.
Only 22,000 people said they used sign language, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics

Only 22,000 people said they used sign language, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics

After English, the second most prevalent language was Polish, spoken by 1 per cent of the population - a total of 546,000 people, followed by Panjabi (0.5 per cent, 273,000) and Urdu (0.5 per cent, 269,000).

The Census found 49 different tongues were used as the main form of communication by groups of more than 15,000 people. Of the top five languages, three were South Asian.

Levels of proficiency in English varied across the country. In Kensington and Chelsea, where 43,000 said English was not their main language, the vast majority, or 91 per cent reported speaking English well.

This compared to Boston, in Lincolnshire, where 8,200 said they did not speak English as a main language, but four in 10 people in this group said they did not speak English well or at all.

Newham, in east London, has the highest proportion of the population without English as a main language at 41 per cent.

The new data also revealed more about health, occupations and families of people living in the country.

The majority of people, or 81 per cent in England, reported that their general health was very good or good, with this figure falling to 78 per cent in Wales.

London, with its relatively young population, enjoyed the best levels of reported good health - at 84 per cent compared to 77 per cent in the North East.

More than 10 million people reported that their daily activities last year were limited because of a health problem or disability.

The census also showed 7 per cent of residents in England and Wales were full time students aged between 16 and 74 years old, an increase of 2 per cent over the last decade.

There were 153,000 people in the Armed Forces in England and Wales, making up 0.3% of the population.