UK population 'rises 500,000 to 65million': Figure has gone up by nearly five million in just ten years

  • New ONS figures expected to show a population rise of 500,000 in one year
  • Means UK population will have gone up by nearly five million in 10 years
  • It comes at what could be a crucial time for voting for the EU referendum 

The country’s population has passed the 65million mark, new official figures are likely to show today.

The population estimates due to be released by the Office for National Statistics are expected to show the number of people living in the UK went up by more than half a million in a single year.

If so, then the UK population will have gone up by nearly five million – around eight per cent – in just 10 years.

The numbers could provide a last-minute boost for the Brexit camp, which has campaigned heavily on immigration and the impact EU freedom of movement has on numbers of people arriving in the UK.

Crowded: Population estimates due to be released by the Office for National Statistics are expected to show the number of people living in the UK went up by more than half a million in a single year (file image)

Crowded: Population estimates due to be released by the Office for National Statistics are expected to show the number of people living in the UK went up by more than half a million in a single year (file image)

Support for Vote Leave is widely thought to have gathered pace after official figures in late May put net migration at 333,000, and showed that 77,000 EU citizens came to Britain in a year.

Estimates of the level of the UK population at the middle of last year have been scheduled for release today since last year.

That means they are not covered by ‘purdah’ rules that say Whitehall should not release sensitive information during an election or referendum campaign.

ONS calculations of the population released in June last year put numbers in the middle of 2014 at 64,596,800, and the increase over 12 months at 491,100.

However, the estimates due to be released today may show faster growth because last year net migration – the number of people added to the population after both immigration and emigration have been taken into account - was running at 259,700.

In the 12 months to the end of June last year period covered in today’s figures, net migration hit a record 336,000.

Since immigration pushes up birthrates – because immigrant women are usually of childbearing age and are likely to have more children than women born in Britain – immigration is currently thought to be responsible for around two thirds of population increase.

The ONS has said that the population may reach almost 80 million by 2039 if migration and birthrates continue at high levels. The projection of over 79 million is nearly 10 million higher than the level which Labour ministers – who presided over the 2000s boom in Eastern European immigration – said would never be reached.

If the statistics show the predicted increase, then the UK population will have gone up by nearly five million – around eight per cent – in just 10 years (file image)

If the statistics show the predicted increase, then the UK population will have gone up by nearly five million – around eight per cent – in just 10 years (file image)

The ONS figures were due to be released at 9.30am this morning, just two-and-a-half hours after polling stations open, at a time when there will be more than 12 hours of voting left.

They may have a major impact through reporting by broadcasters and websites during the day. Polling days usually have no significant campaign news and broadcasters have little to report until counting begins late in the evening.

A spokesman for the BBC declined yesterday to say whether the Corporation’s new outlets would report the figures.

The equivalent report last June attracted heavy attention from BBC reporters, who have been paying greater attention to immigration over the past few years as the anxiety of voters has become plain.

Vote Leave campaigners have played on concerns over rapid population increase and its effect on schools, hospitals, transport, utilities and the availability of housing.

Lord Green of the Migration Watch think tank said yesterday: ‘It is a sign of the times that our population increase is now around half a million every year. If immigration continues at current levels we can expect the population to increase by 10million over the next 20 years and then continue to go up.’

The UK population is thought to have passed 60million in 2005, at a time of very high Eastern European immigration.

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