UK population increases at fastest rate since WW2

Britain's population has swelled to nearly 67 million with growth in the past year reaching the fastest rate in almost 70 years, official figures showed on Thursday, boosted by continued net international migration.

The official UK population as of 30 June 2016 was calculated to be 65.65 million people after the number of people resident in the UK increased by 538,000, or 0.8%, the Office for National Statistics revealed.

While fairly similar to the average annual growth rate in the last decade, the 0.54m increase was the biggest yearly jump since 1947.

Most of the population increase came from net international migration, with 336,000 more people moving to Britain than leaving, 62.4% of the total increase; alongside 193,000 people through natural growth, ie more births than deaths; plus there was also an increase of 9,500 people in the armed forces population based in the UK.

Population growth was highest in England at 0.9%, with Wales 0.5%, Scotland 0.6% and Northern Ireland 0.6%.

AGEING POPULATION

The ONS pointed out that while the UK population continues to age, it was doing so at a slower rate than in recent years, with only a slight increase in the proportion of the population aged 65, up to 18.0% in mid-2016 compared to 17.9% in mid-2015 and an unchanged median age of 40.

This rise in the over-65s of 0.1 percentage points over the year indicated the rapid ageing of the population seen between 2009 and 2015 "may be temporarily slowing", ONS said, as relatively smaller cohorts turn age 65.

By contrast, the large peak of people born in the year to mid-1947 means that there is a large swathe of the population now aged 69.

Neil Park, head of population estimates unit at the ONS, said: "The population of the UK continued to grow in the year to mid-2016 at a similar rate to that seen over recent years. Net international migration continued to be the main driver, but there was also an increase in births and fewer deaths than last year.

"Population growth was not evenly distributed however, with London’s growth rate more than twice that in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the three northern English regions."