UK population 'to hit 70 million by 2029'
- 00:01:44
- ITN
UK population 'to hit 70 million by 2029'
Latest figures show the population of the UK is set to increase at its fastest rate in at least a century. In just 24 years it will increase by 10 million and hit 70 million in 2029, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That is less than half the time it took to go from 50 to 60 million between 1948 and 2005. Every year 425,000 more people will be living here, the equivalent of a city the size of Bristol. Experts are now going back through their records to see if the rate of increase is the fastest since records began. Across the UK the total will hit 71.6 million in 2033 from just over 61 million now. Of those, 60.7 million will be living in England. Northern Ireland's population is set to rise to two million from 1.8 million now. Wales will see a 10 per cent increase in its population, from three to 3.3 million. Scotland's will go up to 5.5 million from 5.2 million now. Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said that he "did not lie awake at night" worrying about the population hitting 70 million.
ITN | October 21, 2009
