UK Population to Exceed 70 Million, Half of Growth Due to Migration

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Liam Deacon

The population of the UK is projected to shoot up by 3.6 million (5.5 per cent) over the next 10 years, with more than half of the growth due to mass migration.

According to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the population will pass 70 million by mid-2029 and be 72.9 million in mid-2041.

The population boom is the equivalent to more than three new cities the size of Birmingham appearing in the UK over a decade. The projections are slightly lower than those made by the ONS in 2014, thanks to a slight fall in migration and births.

Around 54 per cent of the growth will be the result of net international migration and 46 per cent is because there is projected to be more births than deaths.

Separate ONS statistics, reported two months ago, suggest that over a third (33.7 per cent) of babies born in England and Wales had at least one foreign-born parent. In London, it was 66.6 per cent.

There is also going to be a large increasing number of older people in the UK, with the proportion of the population aged 85 and over projected to double over the next 25 years. Andrew Nash, of the Population Projections Unit at the ONS, commented:

“Over the period between mid-2016 and mid-2026 the population of the UK is projected to grow from 65.6 million to 69.2 million, reaching 70 million by mid-2029. England is projected to grow more quickly than the other UK nations.

“Over that period 54 per cent of growth is projected to result directly from net international migration. The other 46 per cent is because there will be more births than deaths.

“These projections suggest slower growth than the previous (2014-based) projections.

“This is because of lower assumptions about future levels of fertility and international migration, and an assumption of a slower rate of increase in life expectancy.”

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