UK population rises by four million in decade

Britain’s population stood at an estimated 67.6 million people in mid2022, an increase of 4.3 million in 11 years, the latest figures show.

England experienced the biggest percentage increase across the period, with its population jumping by 7.5 per cent – or four million.

Northern Ireland recorded the next highest increase at 5.3 per cent, or an additional 96,225 people, followed by Scotland (2.8 per cent or 147,800 people) and Wales (2.2 per cent or 67,882 people).

The figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are the first UK-wide estimates for mid-2022, making them the most up-to-date population snapshot.

They show the median average age of people in the UK in the year to June 2022 was 40.7 years, up from 39.6 years in the year to June 2011.

All four nations now have a median age in the forties, with Scotland recording the oldest, at 43 years, followed by Wales (42.9), England (40.5) and Northern Ireland (40).

Population estimates for Scotland for the years before 2022 have yet to be revised to account for the latest Census, which took place in March 2022, a year later than in the rest of the UK.

This means there are no comparable UK-wide estimates for the period 2012 to 2021 – and it is why the new figures are compared with 2011, when the Census took place in all four nations on the same day.

The figures for England and Wales were first published in November 2023 and showed the combined population of the two nations grew by an estimated 1 per cent in the 12 months to June 2022, the fastest rate for 60 years.

The increase was driven mostly by international migration, rather than natural change – unlike the baby boom that fuelled the growth in the early 1960s.

The ONS data show sharp differences across the UK in the age structure of the local population.

Just over a third (33.8 per cent) of people estimated to be living in North Norfolk in mid-2022 were aged 65 and over – the highest proportion anywhere in the country.

But 5.6 per cent of people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets were 65 and over, the lowest figure in the UK, followed by the nearby borough of Newham (7.3 per cent).