74 min UK‘ by 2036’

Population forecast soars

THE UK population may rocket to nearly 74 million by 2036, official experts estimate.

The Office for National Statistics predicts that in 12 years there will be 541,000 more births than deaths and 6.1 million more people due to net international migration.

This would be a population rise of 6.6 million since mid 2021.

In the next 15 years, the ONS believes UK births will exceed deaths by 10.8 million to 10.3 million. Nearly double the number will migrate to the UK as leave–13.7 million against 7.6 million.

The ONS also estimates there will be an extra one million people aged over 85 in that time. The figures come as the Government announced a ban on overseas care workers bringing family with them from mid-March, in a desperate bid to drive down migration.

Last year there were estimated to be 152,000 care worker vacancies.

Unison’s Gavin Edwards said the changes were reckless and disastrous for social care: “Until pay rates rise substantially, there’ll never be enough UK-based recruits to plug the huge hole in the workforce.”

In 2022 net migration reached a record 745,000. Shadow Immigration Minister, Stephen Kinnock said: the figures reflect 14 years of Tory failure “on skills, training and domestic workforce planning here in the UK”.

New rules expected to come into place in March will also make it harder for Britons earning under the national average to bring over foreign spouses.

The Government has been accused of splitting up families with the draconian measure. Legal migration minister Tom Pursglove said the Home Office is “very confident” there will be a “meaningful reduction in net migration” due to changes to visa rules.