Biggest baby boom in 40 years, population surges

Britain has experienced its biggest baby boom in 40 years as the country’s population increased to 63.2 million, according to the official statistics released on Thursday.

A record 813,200 births fuelled the baby boom in the UK. “This is the largest number of births seen since the year to mid- 1972,” according to the Office for National Statistics.

The population of the UK, in the year to 30 June 2012, has been estimated to be 63.7 million — up by nearly 420,000 ( 0.7 per cent) on 2011, the year of the last census. Growth was due to there being more births than deaths, and more international migrants arriving than emigrants leaving.

The population increase in the UK has been driven by “there being 254,400 more births than deaths ( 61 per cent of the increase) and 165,600 more international migrants arriving than emigrants leaving ( 39 per cent of the increase),” the ONS explained.

The estimated flow of international migrants to the UK in the year to 30 June 2012 was 517,800 and estimated outflow for the same period was 352,100. This means that UK net migration was 165,600 in the year to mid- 2012.

The estimated popula- tions of the four constituent countries of the UK in mid- 2012 are 53.5 million people in England, 5.3 million in Scotland, 3.1 million in Wales and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland.

The mid- 2012 population of the UK ranks third, behind Germany and France when compared to other member states of the European Union. However, the absolute increase in population of the UK was greater than that of any other European Union member state during the 12 months to 30 June 2012, the ONS revealed.

London was the focal point of population increase as a quarter of the growth in population of the UK occurred in London where the population grew by 104,000 in the year to mid- 2012.