The UK population is projected to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up from previous estimates of 67.6 million, if current trends continue.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) projects an increase of 4.9 million (7.3 per cent) from net migration, with births and deaths aligned at approximately 6.8 million.

The data, published yesterday, assumes a level of long-term net international migration of 340,000 a year from mid-2028 onwards.

James Robards, from the ONS, said: “The UK population is projected to grow by almost 5 million over the next decade. The driver of this growth is migration, with natural change – the difference between births and deaths – projected to be around zero. These projections are based on current and past trends, and aren’t forecasts about what may or may not happen in the future.”

Robards added: “Our latest projections also highlight an increasingly ageing population, with the number of people aged over 85 projected to nearly double to 3.3m by 2047. This is in part because of the ageing of the baby boom generation, as well as general increases in life expectancy.”

England’s population is projected to grow more quickly than that of other UK nations in the decade to mid-2032, increasing by 7.8%, compared with 5.9% for Wales, 4.4% for Scotland and 2.1% for Northern Ireland.

The ONS also provides a projection further into the future, covering the 25 year period between mid-2022 and mid-2047. The total growth of the UK population in this quarter-century period is predicted to be 8.9 million, a jump of 13.2%.

The Office for National Statistics stressed the figures are projections – not predictions or forecasts – because they are based on current and past trends and there is always a level of uncertainty over how numbers will actually change as time goes on and political and social landscapes alter.

At the time of writing, the population of the United Kingdom sits at approximately 69.391 million, an 18 per cent increase since 2000. The fertility rate (average number of births per mother) is currently at 1.54.

Submitted by Friends of Retha


The Message is the ground-breaking debut novel by Yan Vana, a thought-provoking and critically acclaimed book that will change the way you think about overpopulation and the near future of earth.