Call for visas cap as UK population to soar by 5m people in decade driven by immigration
Call for visas cap as UK population to soar by 5m people in decade driven by immigration
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The UK population could grow by almost five million people in a decade with the increase driven almost entirely by net migration. Data, released on Tuesday, suggests there will be 72.5 million people in Britain by mid-2032. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) projects the rise, from 67.6 million in mid-2022, will mostly be down to net migration, with the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country estimated to total 4.9 million over the decade.
This is compared to the natural change in population - the difference between births and deaths - projected to be "around zero". The figure assumes the level of net migration will average 340,000 a year from mid-2028 onwards, lower than current levels.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “This projection is shocking and unacceptable. “We need a binding legal cap on visas issued each year which is very, very substantially lower than this in order to get the numbers down and under control.”. The number of births compared to the number of deaths across the period is estimated to be almost identical at 6.8 million.
While births are projected to increase slightly, deaths are also projected to rise due to the relatively large number of people reaching older ages. The estimates mean the overall UK population is projected to rise by 7.3% between mid-2022 and mid-2032, compared with an increase of 6.1% over the previous 10 years.
