UK population to soar to 72.5million by 2032 due to net migration rise, ONS says
UK population to soar to 72.5million by 2032 due to net migration rise, ONS says
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A 4.9million increase in the UK population will mainly be driven by net migration, new figures suggest. The UK population is set to soar by nearly five million over the next seven years, according to new figures. The population is forecast to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up from 67.6 million in mid-2022, driven almost entirely by net migration, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
![[The population is forecast to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up from 67.6 million in mid-2022]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/08/11/837c7ba43022a753db5a8d5770ed4923Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzI4NDY2ODgy-2.77745700.jpg)
England’s population is projected to grow more quickly than other UK nations in the decade to mid-2032, increasing by 7.8 per cent, compared with 5.9 per cent for Wales. In Scotland, the population will increase by 4.4 per cent over the same period, and by 2.1 per cent in Northern Ireland.
![[Deaths are also projected to rise due to the relatively large number of people reaching older ages who were born during the ‘baby boom’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/09/a9535938742be4deb859e6cb419a37e5Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM1OTc5NDk0-2.78071881.jpg)
The ONS also provides a projection further into the future, covering the 25 years between mid-2022 and mid-2047, for which the total projected growth of the UK population is 8.9 million, a jump of 13.2 per cent. This is lower than the previous 25 years from 1997 to 2022, when the population is estimated to have risen by 9.3 million, or 15.9 per cent.
The number of births and deaths across the period is projected to be almost identical, with about 6.8 million births offset by 6.8 million deaths. While births are projected to increase slightly, deaths are also projected to rise due to the relatively large number of people reaching older ages who were born during the “baby boom” following the Second World War.
