17.07.12
England and Wales have largest population growth on record
The population of England and Wales has increased from 52.4 million to 56.1 million since 2001, the largest growth ever shown by aUKcensus.
The population has grown 7.1% to 3.7 million, outstripping the figures from 1991-2001 which saw a growth of 1.6 million. On the 27 March 2011, England was recorded as having a population of 53 million. Wales’ population was 3.1 million.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 1.6 million of the 3.7 million population growth could be attributed to the net birth to death rate. The remaining growth was attributed to net migration.
The population exceeded estimates for the census by approximately 400,000 people.
The signs of an increasingly ageing population were evident, with the highest ever percentage of the population aged 65 and older recorded at 16.4%, equivalent to one in six of the population. Residents aged 90 and over were up to 430,000 compared to 340,000 in 2001. 315,000 of those residents were women, outnumbering the men nearly three-to-one.
The number of women inEnglandandWalesremains higher overall by just less than one million, with 27.6 million men clipped to post by 28.5 million women. One of the only areas to see a percentage population fall was children under 16.
However, the figures increase from age 9 downwards, with 405,700 more children aged 5 and under since 2001. The census puts this down to an increase in fertility rate and an increase in the number of women of childbearing age. The latter statistic, applied to women between 15 and 45 years old, is thought to have increased largely due to migration.
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