Blitz Bureau
LONDON: The United Kingdom’s population reached 68.3 million in mid-2023, setting a new record, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on October 8.
ONS data showed a one per cent increase, compared to the level in mid2022, marking the highest population growth rate since the 1970s, Xinhua news agency reported.
Despite the growth, the UK experienced a negative natural population change of -16,300, with more deaths than births, reflecting the country’s low fertility rate. The data also indicated that this increase was driven primarily by net international migration. Britain has seen high immigration in recent years from economic migrants and those who arrive via irregular crossings in small boats – a hot political topic because of stretched public services after years of under-investment.
In the year ending mid-2023, migration added 677,300 people to the UK population. Net migration to Britain in 2015, the year before the Brexit referendum, was 329,000.
The population grew faster in England and in Wales, both seeing a 1% rise, when compared to Scotland with 0.8% growth or Northern Ireland which posted a 0.5% increase, the ONS said.
While post-Brexit changes to visas saw a sharp drop in the number of European Union migrants to Britain, new work visa rules led to a surge in immigration from India, Nigeria and Pakistan, often to fill health and social care vacancies.
In August some far-right groups took to the streets to protest against migrants, an early challenge to the newly elected Labour government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who scrapped the previous Conservative government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda since taking office in July, has said that his approach to illegal migration would be pragmatic and mark a change from the last leadership.
