UK sees most births since 1972

The UK’s population rose faster than any other in Europe, pushed by the highest birth rate the country has seen since 1972, reports the Office of National Statistics.

Britain’s total population increased 0.7 percent in the year leading up to June 2012. An increase of 419,900 people put the UK’s total population at 63.7m, according to the ONS’s mid-year report for 2012.

In comparison, France’s population rose by 0.5 per cent in 2012 and Germany’s by only 0.2 per cent.

Most births since 1972

The highest number of births since 1972 drove Britain’s population increase.

Some 813,200 babies were born in Britain between mid 2011 and mid 2012. Subtracting the number of people who died in the same period, the increase from births in the year was just over a quarter of a million – 254,400.

The British birth rate has continued to grow in the past few years, counteracting a tail-off in the years just after the millennium.

Migration in the early 2000s has had impact on the birth rate, the ONS says, with 26 percent of all live births in England and Wales in the period to women born outside the UK.

Migration

Overall migration increased the population of the UK by 165,600 in the year up to June 2012. Some 517,800 people came to the UK last year, while 352,100 people left.

There were big differences between regions: 69,000 moved to London, while only 400 people emigrated to Northern Ireland.

China, Poland, Germany, Australia were the main sources of new migrants.

Since 2001 the population of the UK has increased by about 4.6 million (7.8 per cent), with London and the South of England having seen the greatest increases, this trend broadly continues for the year to mid-2012.

London: in and out

London grew fastest of all the areas in the UK in 2012: at 1.27 per cent, compared to 0.23 per cent in the North East. London added 104,000 people between 2011 and 2012 to reach 8.3m.

However the city has a high turnover of people with its 69,000 international new arrivals balanced by some 51,500 leaving the capital, mainly to settle in the south or east of England. The capital has a high birth rate, with births outnumbering deaths by 87,000.