ISSUES
: Our Changing Population
Chapter 1: Population in the UK
4
parliamentary
constituencies,
national parks, wards, and
health areas for England and
Wales. Population estimates for
subnational population estimates
in Scotland are produced by NRS,
and NISRA produces subnational
population estimates for Northern
Ireland.
London had the largest natural
change of all regions with 82,400
more births than deaths; the North
East of England and Wales both
had the lowest natural change,
each with just 3,300 more births
than deaths.
London was the destination of
more than a third of international
migrants arriving in the UK –
contributing to it having the highest
net international migration of all
regions at 107,400 – up by 27,900
from last year; Northern Ireland
had the lowest net international
migration with 2,200 more people
arriving to stay from abroad than
emigrating.
The SouthWest of England received
more people from other parts of the
UK than any other region leading
to a 25,700 population increase;
and London continued its pattern
of having the greatest outflow of
people to other parts of the UK of
any region, with a net loss of more
than 68,600 people. More people
of every age left London for other
parts of the UK than arrived, except
for people aged 21–28, more of
whom arrived in London from other
parts of the UK than left.
Approximately two-thirds (64%) of
the people moving out of London
went to the South East and East
of England, a similar picture to last
year.
The latest information on internal
migration is available in the
2014 Internal Migration by Local
Authorities in England and Wales
release.
What are the key population
stories at a local level?
There are presently 391 local
authorities in the UK; 326 in
England, 32 in Scotland, 22 in
Wales and 11 in Northern Ireland.
In mid-2014, the local authority
with the smallest population size
at 2,300 was Isles of Scilly and the
largest population at 1,101,400 was
Birmingham.
The total population grew in 357
local authorities in the year to mid-
2014. In total, 13 local authorities
had growth of more than 2% in
their population.
All of the local authorities with
the greatest percentage growth in
population in the year to mid-2014
are in England; six of these areas
are London boroughs. Growth in
these local authorities in the year
to mid-2014 was generally due to
net international migration, with
high rates of natural change -
(births minus deaths) in Hackney
and an increase in the number of
armed forces in Forest Heath. The
greatest percentage growth in
population in Scotland was 1.8% in
Midlothian (ranked 20th); in Wales it
was 0.7% in Cardiff (ranked 175th);
and in Northern Ireland it was 1.3%
in Lisburn and Castlereagh (ranked
53rd).
The total population fell in just
34 local authorities in the year to
mid-2014; only Richmondshire
had a fall of more than 1% in their
population.
The local authorities with the
greatest percentage fall in
population in the year to mid-
2014 are spread across England,
Scotland and Wales. No local
authority in Northern Ireland had a
fall in population in the year to mid-
2014.
Population falls in these local
authorities were generally due to
outflow of people due to internal
migration to somewhere else in the
UK and negative natural change
(more deaths than births). The fall
in Richmondshire can be attributed
to a sizeable outflow of armed
forces personnel during the year
to mid-2014, whilst the greatest
contributor to the population
fall in Harrogate was emigration
overseas.
25 June 2015
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from the Office for National
Statistics.
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