ISSUES
: Our Changing Population
Chapter 1: Population in the UK
6
migration has increased the UK
population by more than 240,000
people per year on average from
2004 to 2014, which is about 40,000
more people per year than natural
change.
Immigration has been higher than
emigration since the early 1990s.
In the late 1990s, the level of net
migration increased from the tens
of thousands to the hundreds of
thousands. Rises in immigration have
tended to coincide with expansion of
the European Union allowing more
people to freely migrate to the UK.
The rise in net migration in 1998 can
in part be attributed to instability in
countries in Africa, Eastern Europe
and the Middle East. International
immigration by students increased
during the late 2000s, peaking
between 2009 and 2011.
In addition to the direct impact
of net migration on the size of
the population, current and past
international migration also has
indirect effects on the size and
structure of the population as
migrants tend to arrive as young
adults aged in their 20s to early
40s and they change the numbers
of births and deaths in the UK. For
example, statistics on the number of
births by the country of birth of the
mother show that 197,000 live births
(25% of total live births) in the UK in
2013 were to mothers born outside
the UK. However, this figure should
not be interpreted as an estimate of
the indirect effect of migration on the
size of the population; it is only one
aspect of this. A fuller assessment
would consider:
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UK born children fathered by
men born outside the UK
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deaths of people who had
migrated to the UK
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births to, and deaths of, people
who emigrated from the UK (and
who would have given birth,
or died, in the UK had they not
emigrated)
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how to account for births to, and
deaths of, UK-born people who
had emigrated and subsequently
returned to the UK
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how to account for births
to, and deaths of, UK-born
people who had parents (or
grandparents, etc.) who were
themselves immigrants.
How does the population
differ across the UK?
Having seen that the UK population
can vary by age and sex, attention
now turns to how the UK population
differs by country and by region of
England.
In 2014 the national and regional
populations are not equal in size.
Furthermore the number of people
per square kilometre (also known
as population density) is also
very different, with just 69 people
per square kilometre in Scotland
compared with 5,432 people per
square kilometre in London. The
population density of London was
more than 10 times that of any
other region or country.
Population density varies within
England, it will also vary within other
countries and within the regions of
England: for example in Scotland,
Glasgow and Edinburgh will have
a larger population density than
areas of the Highlands.
The UK 2014 sex ratio was 96.9
males per 100 females. This varies
from 94.4 males per 100 females
in Scotland to 98.4 males per 100
females in London.
The 2004 to 2014 annual growth rate
varied from 0.3% of the regional
population in the North East to
1.4% of the regional population in
London. The 2004 to 2014 annual
growth rate in London was 0.51
percentage points more than for
the East of England which had
the second highest annual growth
rate over the period 2004 to 2014.
High population growth in London
may be due to its popularity as
a destination for graduates and
as an initial port of call for many
immigrating to the UK.
UK average household size in 2014
was 2.42 people per household.
This was broadly similar across the
regions, ranging from 2.22 people
per household in Scotland to 2.65
people per household in London.
UK life expectancy at birth for 2011
to 2013 was 78.9 years for boys and
82.7 years for girls, a difference of
3.8 years. Male life expectancy
varied from 76.8 years in Scotland
to 80.4 years in the South East,
a range of 3.6 years across the
regions and countries of the UK.
Female life expectancy ranged
from 80.9 years in Scotland to 84.1
years in London, a difference of
3.2 years. The difference between
male and female life expectancy
varied from 3.5 years in the East
of England and the South East to
4.3 years in Northern Ireland; the
difference for the UK was 3.8 years.
5 November 2015
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from the Office for National
Statistics.
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information.
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