Immigration fuels the sharpest annual population rise for nearly 70 years – as number jumps by 538,000
Numbers involved in the increase are equivalent to a city the size of Sheffield being added
SKY-HIGH immigration has fuelled the sharpest annual population rise in nearly 70 years, official figures show.
Numbers rose by 538,000 — equivalent to a city the size of Sheffield being added.
The 0.8 per cent hike took the number of people living in the UK to 65,648,000 by the middle of last year, according to Office for National Statistics estimates.
Nearly two thirds of the rise was down to net migration of 336,000.
The remaining third — 193,000 — was due to a rise in births and falling numbers of deaths.
The rise was the largest annual increase since 1947, when numbers went up by 551,000.
England’s population soared by 481,800 — nine in ten of the total rise and exceeding 55million for the first time.
London saw numbers grow at more than twice the rate of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and nearly triple that of the North East.
The capital’s population hit an all-time high of nearly 8.8million after a rise of 100,000 in a year.
Lord Green, chairman of the Migration Watch think tank, warned that Britain was at a “turning point”.
He said: “The Brexit negotiations must achieve a substantial reduction in EU migration.
“Failing that we will have to build the equivalent of a city the size of Birmingham every two years for the indefinite future. Any such outcome will be deeply opposed by the public, especially since nearly three-quarters of us believe that the country is already crowded.”
Three quarters of people believe the country is already crowded
Lord Green, chairman of the Migration Watch
The population grew by five million in the decade after Tony Blair’s decision to open Britain’s borders to Eastern European migrants in 2004.
It took 35 years for the population to grow that much before his decision.
The ONS stats also showed Britain’s population continuing to age — with 18 per cent of people now 65 or over.
London’s population is much younger than the rest of the country with an average age of 34.8 compared with the national figure of 40.
Statisticians found people tended to arrive in the capital in their twenties but leave once they turn 30 when they start families.