Census: English Population Hits All Time High, Driven Mostly By immigration

The population of England and Wales has hit a new all-time high according to the first statistical release of once-in-a-decade census, the statistical agency saying the majority of population growth is due to immigration.

After taking over a year to publish its first batch of census figures, the government has revealed that the population of England and Wales rose by 6.3 per cent over the previous ten-year recording period, taking the total to nearly 60 million. When combined with Northern Ireland and Scotland, the other two integral members of the United Kingdom, the population rose to almost 67 million.

The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed that the population of England hit 56,489,800, while Wales recorded 3,107,500 people. This is a 6.3 per cent rise from 2011 or an increase of 3.5 million residents. The lion’s share of this increase was a result of “positive net migration”, which accounted for 57.5 per cent of the increase, representing two million people.

Despite the census being conducted in March of last year, the full breakdown of immigration and demographic changes has yet to be published, with the government saying that more releases will follow later this year and into 2023.

The partial release of data on Tuesday did claim that population growth had stalled, with 6.3 per cent growth recorded between 2011 and 2021 compared to 7.8 per cent between 2001 and 2011.

Though the census bureau has so far failed to provide a full assessment of the demographics of the country, there have been indications that immigration is playing an outsized role in shaping the future of the country.

According to a report from the Migration Watch think tank released last year, the foreign-born population has risen to nine million and the ethnic minority population to thirteen million in the past two decades.