Baby boom pushes population to 61m high

Published on Thursday 27 August 2009 22:15

A NEW baby boom has seen the population of the UK explode through the 61 million barrier for the first time, official figures have revealed.

A rising fertility rate, rather than immigration, was the key reason for the biggest population increase for nearly 50 years, with about three-quarters of a million babies born last year.

The UK population stood at 61.4 million at the end of 2008, an overall increase of 408,000 on the previous year and the most dramatic rise since 1962.

The increase was recorded despite a substantial reduction in the number of eastern European migrants coming to Britain, a fall that has been blamed on poor economic conditions.

Overall migration levels, which are calculated by subtracting the number of people leaving from those arriving, fell by 44 per cent to 118,000 – the lowest level since the European Union was expanded.

The large numbers of eastern Europeans returning home as a result of the economic crisis and the decline in arrivals meant that they added only 13,000 to the total population last year.

Meanwhile, better care and longer life expectancy meant a record number of mid-octogenarians. There are now 1.3 million people aged over 85.

For the first time in almost a decade, changes in birth and death rates have overtaken immigration as the biggest factor affecting population growth.

According to the Office of National Statistics, there were 791,000 babies born in the UK last year, an increase of 33,000 on 2007 – and almost twice the rise that was seen at the start of the decade.

The population is now growing by 0.7 per cent every year, more than double the rate experienced in the 1990s and three times the level of the 1980s.

Although immigration fell, foreign-born mothers who had settled in the UK made a significant contribution to the population explosion. In England and Wales, the number of births to foreign-born women rose by 6.5 per cent to 107,900. India, Pakistan and Poland were the most common countries of origin.

In Scotland, there was also a rise in the number of births to foreign-born mothers, from 6,350 in 2007 to 7,607 last year.

In the UK as a whole, the fertility rate, which can be interpreted as the number of children a woman would have during her lifetime, has risen from 1.63 in 2001 to 1.96 in 2008.

At the same time, the total number of women in the key childbearing ages (statistically 15 to 44) living in the UK has increased by 1.8 per cent between mid-2001 and mid-2008.

The figures led to the borders and immigration minister Phil Woolas saying immigration was "under control". But the shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, accused the government of "sleeping on the job" over population growth.

"These figures show our population is still rising fast, even when the recession is driving hundreds of thousands of people to leave," Mr Green said.

"This puts pressure on housing and transport, and shows there is still no proper control over immigration numbers."

Tim Finch, head of migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that the figures showed high immigration was not inevitable, and attacked "irresponsible scaremongering" surrounding the issue.

"These figures indicate that, after a number of years in which net migration was high, it is now declining sharply," he said.

Scots lifestyle hard to beat for our twins' upbringing

LITTLE Eleanor and Catherine Donkers are classic examples of the new baby boom generation.

Born exactly 17 months ago, the non-identical twins will grow up to be as Scottish as shortbread, even though both their parents are Dutch.

New statistics show that half of the increase in births last year came from non-UK-born mothers, pushing fertility rates to their highest level in more than 30 years.

The twins' mother, Maude, a GP in the Borders, fell for Scotland when she moved to the UK to pursue her medical studies.

It was over here that she met and settled down with her husband Charles, an accountant who is also from Holland.

She was brought up in Friesland in the north of Holland. Mr Donkers came from Oss in the south of the country.

The Scottish lifestyle, the friendly people and the proximity of the countryside to Edinburgh persuaded them to lay down roots, she said.

"I just love it here," said Dr Donkers, 40. "I see no reason to move back to Holland.

"I love the space and the people you meet in Scotland. You can't fault it. I just don't understand why some people moan about it."

They were delighted when their babies came along in March last year. Dr Donkers said she had met a number of other foreign mothers through her work who had similar views about settling in Scotland.

"I have met quite a few foreign mums," she said. "This is such a great place to bring up a family – especially in Edinburgh. It is a big city, but it is not as competitive as London and there is this lovely countryside close by."

Scotland up 20,000 but peak some way off

THE most recent Scottish figures show that the population has risen to 5,168,500 – an increase of about 24,000 during 2008.

The 0.5 per cent rise was down to 20,000 more people coming to Scotland than leaving and 3,900 more births than deaths.

Scotland is still not as crowded as it was when the population peaked in 1974 at 5.24 million.

Numbers fell to 5.05 million in 2002, a trend that led to Jack McConnell launching his Fresh Talent initiative when he was first minister in an attempt to halt the declining population.

Current projections suggest that the Scottish population will rise to a high of 5.37 million in 2031 before slowly reducing. The number of people aged 60 and over is expected to increase by 54 per cent from 1.12 million to 1.72 million.

Last year there were 60,041 births in Scotland, up from 57,781 in 2007. A total of 46,337 of last year's babies had mothers born in Scotland. Of the rest, 5,352 had mothers born in England.

Next most common were mothers born in Poland, who produced 1,509 babies. Mothers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka accounted for 1,232 of last year's births.