UK population hits record 69.3 million as immigration drives growth

Immigration has pushed the UK population to a record 69.3 million, with numbers rising by 755,254 over the 12 months to mid-2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. The jump was the second-largest annual numerical increase since the late 1940s and followed 890,049 in the previous year. The rise was driven almost entirely by international migration, while natural change — births minus deaths — contributed only a tiny share. The latest figures mean the UK population has grown by 1.6 million between June 2022 and June 2024, the largest two-year jump since current records began.

There were broad differences in growth across the four nations. England recorded a 1.2 percent rise in the year to June 2024, while Scotland grew 0.7 percent, Wales 0.6 percent and Northern Ireland 0.4 percent. Wales and Scotland experienced negative natural change during this period, with more deaths than births. Net international migration accounted for the vast majority of population growth in all four nations, the ONS said. Some 1,235,254 people were estimated to have immigrated to the UK in the 12 months to June 2024, compared with 496,536 who emigrated, yielding a net migration figure of 738,718. That net figure represented 98 percent of the UK’s overall increase in population across the period.

In England, the City of London recorded the largest percentage increase in population in the year to mid-2024, at 11.1 percent, reflecting its very small base. The Isles of Scilly, by contrast, saw a 2.8 percent decline. Other notable English increases included Oadby & Wigston in Leicestershire (3.1 percent), Preston in Lancashire (2.9 percent) and Barking & Dagenham in London (2.8 percent). Kensington & Chelsea in London posted the next-largest decrease in England (1.4 percent), followed by Lambeth (-0.6 percent) and Westminster (-0.3 percent).

Glasgow had the largest percentage increase in Scotland in the year to mid-2024 (1.8 percent), while Newport in Wales rose 1.7 percent and Derry City & Strabane in Northern Ireland rose 1 percent. The biggest drops in those nations were Argyll & Bute (−0.3 percent), Isle of Anglesey (−0.2 percent) and Newry, Mourne & Down (−0.2 percent).

The ONS estimated that the UK population has increased each year since mid-1982 and that net international migration remains the main driver of growth, continuing a long-term trend seen since the turn of the century. The rise in the year to mid-2024 represents the second-largest annual increase in numerical terms in more than 75 years, according to the agency.

Along with the new 2024 figures, the ONS revised its estimates for 2011 to 2023 in line with the latest migration data. The revisions show the UK population grew by 4.7 million in the decade from mid-2014 to mid-2024, a rise of 7.2 percent. That pace is slightly slower than the 7.8 percent growth registered in the preceding decade from 2004 to 2014. Growth has been notably higher in the 21st century than during the second half of the 20th century. The population stood at 50.3 million in 1949, took 19 years to reach 55 million in 1968, and 37 more years to hit 60 million in 2005. It then took only 10 years to reach 65 million in 2015, illustrating the accelerating pace of change as the new century progressed.

The latest trajectory underscores ongoing demographic shifts tied to migration patterns and birth rates, with policymakers weighing housing, infrastructure, and public services against fluctuating population totals across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.