30/06/2011

ONS Report Major Rise In UK Population

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have said the rise in the UK population last year has been the biggest increase in almost half a century.

The UK population has increased by 3.1 million people between 2001 and 2010.

The report describes the recent changes in the population at UK, constituent country and regional levels. It also sets out the age structure of the UK population.

Key findings say the population of the UK was 62.3 million in mid-2010, up 470,000 (0.8 per cent) on the previous year; the highest annual growth rate since mid-1962.

Natural change, the difference between births and deaths, accounted for 52 per cent of UK population growth over the year to mid-2010, the third successive year that it has

contributed more than net long-term international migration.

Natural change accounted for an increasing proportion of total population change

since 2002. The main driver of this has been the number of births. In the year to mid-

2010 there were 134,000 more births than in the year to mid-2002, when natural change was at its lowest during the decade.

Net migration accounted for 48 per cent of the UK population growth in the year to mid-

2010, with the number of migrants entering the UK remaining at similar levels to those

seen over the past six years.

Past migration has contributed to the increase in natural change through its impact on

births. However births to both UK born and non-UK born women have contributed to the

increase in the annual number of births since 2002.

The UK population continues to age gradually. The number of people aged 85 and over

was more than 1.4 million in mid-2010, accounting for just under 2.3 per cent of the total population. In 1981 this age group accounted for 1.1 per cent of the population and had 0.6 million people.

The difference between the number of men and women in the population aged 85 and

over has decreased. In mid-2010 men accounted for just under 33 per cent of the

population aged 85 and over, compared with just over 23 per cent in mid-1981.

(BMcN/KMcA)

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