UK has fastest population growth in Europe for a decade

New publically-available figures have detailed the impact of immigration on population growth in the UK, in addition to rising fertility among UK-born women.

Figures from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the population has grown by five million since 2001. The UK’s annual rate of population growth stands at 0.7%, twice that of the rest of the EU.

This is due to a combination of factors including the expansion of the EU in 2004 and 2007, a rise in the fertility of UK-born women, and an increase in immigration of women of childbearing age.

The Daily Telegraph’s Social Affairs Editor John Bingham pointed out that, since 2001, the UK population has grown “the same amount it gained in the previous 37 years.”

Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, also sounded a note of warning: “Population growth on this scale is clearly unsustainable and raises serious questions about the ability of public services and infrastructure to cope with such a rapidly growing population.”

The success of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the recent EU Parliament elections, a general election in 2015, and a possible referendum on EU membership in 2017 mean immigration is in the foreground of the national conversation.

Contributing to the debate, IZA World of Labor's Murat Genç has argued that migration can have a beneficial effect on trade, and our editor-in-chief Klaus F. Zimmermann has stated that migration fills labor shortages in the receiving country.

Read more here.

Related articles: 
The impact of migration on trade, by Murat Genç
Circular migration, by Klaus F. Zimmermann
Superdiversity, social cohesion, and economic benefits, by Paul Spoonley
Taxpayer effects of immigration, by James P. Smith