A rising number of births and immigration is fuelling the fastest rate of population growth in the UK for almost half a century, according to official figures published on Thursday.
The surge in numbers has driven the population to a record 62.3 million, three million more than ten years ago.
Almost half a million people were added to the population last year, the highest growth rate since 1962 and the start of the last baby boom.
New immigrants accounted for almost half of the rise, and natural increase — the difference between births and deaths — accounted for 52 per cent of population growth. But the increase in births is also down to a rise in the number of migrant mothers, so immigration has a direct and indirect impact on population growth, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Ben Humberstone, an ONS statistician, said as he unveiled the mid-year population estimates for 2010: “The population is the highest it has ever been. It is also the highest growth rate in percentage and absolute terms that we have seen in nearly 50 years.”
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Population growth is being driven by natural change, primarily by increasing births and a fall in the number of people dying because of medical advances, in particular a decline in deaths caused by strokes and heart disease.
But the increase is also being fuelled by the effects of historically high levels of immigration during the past decade which have resulted in an increase in the number of women of childbearing age.
Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, which campaigns against large-scale immigration, described the latest figures as “astonishing”.
He added: “They are further evidence that the Government must take urgent steps to get a grip of immigration, which is a major factor in this unprecedented population growth. The alternative is substantial extra investment in public services.”
The population rose by 470,000 to 62.3 million in the year to June last year, a 0.8 per cent rise on the previous year, and four times the growth rate of the 1980s. Nearly half of the growth was down to net migration of about 230,000 — the difference between those leaving and those arriving in the UK for more than a year. Immigration remained broadly stable but emigration dropped sharply as fewer Britons left the country for work reasons. A further 243,000 were added to the population as result of natural change, the difference between births and deaths.
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Overall there were 797,000 births, the highest number since 1991, and almost one in four of those were to mothers who were born outside the UK.
One reason for the rise in the number of births is the higher fertility rates of women born outside the UK compared with their UK-born counterparts. Another is higher fertility among women over 30.
The average annual population growth between 2001 and 2010 was 0.6 per cent, higher than EU average rates but comparable with France and Italy. Spain had a growth rate more that twice that of the UK but Germany’s population declined.
Yesterday’s figures also showed that while all regions of England had an increase in population, the biggest percentage increases were in the East and South East and the lowest increases were in the North. The population of Norwich grew by 17 per cent to 143,000, Welwyn and Hatfield in Hertfordshire by a similar figure to 114,000 and Colchester by 16 per cent to 181,000. But in the North, Burnley’s population fell by 5,000 to 85,000, and Sefton’s, in Merseyside, by 10,000 to 273,000.
Simon Ross, chief executive of Population Matters, said that the continuing rise in population would make it difficult to achieve reductions in carbon emissions as well as providing housing and other services. He urged ministers to take action to stabilise the population by enhancing family planning services, limiting automatic tax credits and benefit payments to the first two children per couple and taking more effective action to limit immigration.