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Data released on Tuesday indicates that the United Kingdom saw its population rise by one percent during the year ending mid-2023, the highest rate recorded to date. Over the past two years, 1.2 million people were added to the population, with immigration playing a leading role in this expansion.
The UK’s population stood at an estimated 68.3 million in mid-2023, reflecting an annual growth of 662,400 or 1.0 percent, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This represents the most significant annual growth in percentage and number since comparable data began in 1971, occurring amid heightened political tension over migration and concerns about housing and service capacity.
The country’s most serious riots in ten years, attributed to anti-immigrant groups, have already posed a challenge for the newly installed Labour government.
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“Net international migration was the main contributor to population increase for all four countries of the UK in the year to mid-2023,” said the ONS.
The statistics agency estimated that 1,185,600 people immigrated from outside the UK, with 508,300 emigrating in the year up to mid-2023, making net international migration 677,300.
Some 16,300 more deaths than births were recorded over the same period — the first time since 1976 that there has been a negative natural change in the UK population, with the exception of Covid-hit 2020.
The population is estimated to have risen by 1,281,700 in the two years up until mid-2023, more than the number of people that live in Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city.
