Migration pushes UK population up by 500,000 to a new record
The population of the UK has hit a record high, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said, with the average age also reaching a new peak.
The population at 30 June 2014 is estimated to have been 64,596,800, an increase of 491,100 or 0.77 per cent on the year before.
Most of the increase was due to net migration, which totalled 259,700, while natural population growth was 226,200.
Meanwhile, the median age of the population (the age at which half the population is younger and half the population is older) at mid-2014 was 40 years – the highest ever estimated, the ONS said.
The number and proportion of older people continues to rise, with over 11.4m or 17.7 per cent of the population aged 65 and over in mid-2014, up from 11.1m or 17.4 per cent of the population last year.
“Over the previous three years net migration decreased compared to the pre-recession levels,” said Carlos Vargas-Silva from Oxford University’s migration observatory.
“That was an exception. But the numbers of net migration and natural change can go back and forth. While this year net migration is the biggest contributor to population growth, next year it might be different.”