How Britain's demographic is changing

A 50-year record population increase was fuelled by greater migration

Crowd of people
The UK's population could grow to 70 million people in the next two years
(Image credit: David Cliff/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The UK population is changing. Last year it grew at its fastest rate since the early 1970s, yet for the first time (outside of the pandemic) in 50 years the number of deaths was higher than births.

Migration has been the principal driving force behind the UK's rapid population expansion, according to a new report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That has meant a "not negligible" increase of two million in the last five years, said The Times, pushing the total to 68.3 million with a forecast of potentially reaching 70 million within two years.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Richard Windsor is a freelance writer for The Week Digital. He began his journalism career writing about politics and sport while studying at the University of Southampton. He then worked across various football publications before specialising in cycling for almost nine years, covering major races including the Tour de France and interviewing some of the sport’s top riders. He led Cycling Weekly’s digital platforms as editor for seven of those years, helping to transform the publication into the UK’s largest cycling website. He now works as a freelance writer, editor and consultant.