Population growth (annual %) in United Kingdom was reported at 0.82121 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United Kingdom - Population growth (annual %) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

The statistic shows the total population in the United Kingdom from 2015 to 2019, with projections up until 2025. The population grew steadily over this period.

Population of the United Kingdom

Despite a fertility rate just below the replacement rate, the United Kingdom’s population has been slowly but steadily growing, increasing by an average of 0.6 percent every year since 2002. The age distribution has remained roughly the same for the past ten years or so, with the share of the population over 65 years old seeing a slight increase as the baby boomer generation enters into that age bracket. That share is likely to continue growing slightly, as the United Kingdom has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

The population of the island nation is predominantly white Christians, but a steady net influx of immigrants, part of a legacy of the wide-reaching former British Empire, has helped diversify the population. One of the largest ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom is that of residents of an Indian background, born either in the UK, India, or in other parts of the world. India itself is experiencing problems with rapid population growth, causing some of its population to leave the country in order to find employment. The United Kingdom’s relatively lower levels of unemployment and the historical connection between the two countries (which has also resulted in family connections between individuals) are likely reasons that make it a popular destination for Indian emigrants.

Total current population for the United Kingdom in 2025 is 68,180,606, a 0.32% increase from 2024.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Total population for the United Kingdom in 2024 was <strong>67,961,439</strong>, a <strong>0.57% decline</strong> from 2023.</li>
<li>Total population for the United Kingdom in 2023 was <strong>68,350,000</strong>, a <strong>0.82% increase</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Total population for the United Kingdom in 2022 was <strong>67,791,000</strong>, a <strong>1.14% increase</strong> from 2021.</li>
</ul>Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.

Key information about United Kingdom population

• The United Kingdom population reached 68.3 million people in Dec 2023, compared with the previously reported figure of 67.6 million people in Dec 2022
• The data reached an all-time high of 68.3 million people in Dec 2023 and a record low of 48.9 million people in Dec 1946

• In the latest reports, United Kingdom Unemployment Rate dropped to 3.9 % in Oct 2023
• Monthly earnings of the United Kingdom population was 3,547.0 USD in Jul 2024
• United Kingdom Labour Force Participation Rate dropped to 62.8 % in Oct 2023

Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) in United Kingdom was reported at 18.13 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United Kingdom - Population ages 0-14, male (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on May of 2025.

U.K. population density for 2022 was 280.21, a 1.14% increase from 2021.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>U.K. population density for 2021 was <strong>277.05</strong>, a <strong>0.08% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
<li>U.K. population density for 2020 was <strong>277.28</strong>, a <strong>0.37% increase</strong> from 2019.</li>
<li>U.K. population density for 2019 was <strong>276.26</strong>, a <strong>0.57% increase</strong> from 2018.</li>
</ul>Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.

The population of the United Kingdom in 2023 was estimated to be approximately 68.3 million in 2023, with almost 9.48 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at over 8.9 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.6 million. With the UK's population generally concentrated in England, most English regions have larger populations than the constituent countries of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which had populations of 5.5 million, 3.16 million, and 1.92 million respectively. English counties and cities The United Kingdom is a patchwork of various regional units, within England the largest of these are the regions shown here, which show how London, along with the rest of South East England had around 18 million people living there in this year. The next significant regional units in England are the 47 metropolitan and ceremonial counties. After London, the metropolitan counties of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire were the biggest of these counties, due to covering the large urban areas of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds respectively. Regional divisions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland The smaller countries that comprise the United Kingdom each have different local subdivisions. Within Scotland these are called council areas whereas in Wales the main regional units are called unitary authorities. Scotland's largest Council Area by population is that of Glasgow City at over 622,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 372,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of around 348,000.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

The total population in the United Kingdom was estimated at 68.3 million people in 2023, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Population - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

As of January 2025, the United Kingdom had approximately 67.8 million internet users in total. Meanwhile, there were 54.8 million active social media users as of the reported period, which accounted for around 79 percent of the total population.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset tabulates the data for the England, AR population pyramid, which represents the England population distribution across age and gender, using estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2018-2022 5-Year Estimates. It lists the male and female population for each age group, along with the total population for those age groups. Higher numbers at the bottom of the table suggest population growth, whereas higher numbers at the top indicate declining birth rates. Furthermore, the dataset can be utilized to understand the youth dependency ratio, old-age dependency ratio, total dependency ratio, and potential support ratio.

Key observations

• Youth dependency ratio, which is the number of children aged 0-14 per 100 persons aged 15-64, for England, AR, is 30.4.
• Old-age dependency ratio, which is the number of persons aged 65 or over per 100 persons aged 15-64, for England, AR, is 24.3.
• Total dependency ratio for England, AR is 54.7.
• Potential support ratio, which is the number of youth (working age population) per elderly, for England, AR is 4.1.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2018-2022 5-Year Estimates.

Age groups:

• Under 5 years
• 5 to 9 years
• 10 to 14 years
• 15 to 19 years
• 20 to 24 years
• 25 to 29 years
• 30 to 34 years
• 35 to 39 years
• 40 to 44 years
• 45 to 49 years
• 50 to 54 years
• 55 to 59 years
• 60 to 64 years
• 65 to 69 years
• 70 to 74 years
• 75 to 79 years
• 80 to 84 years
• 85 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Group: This column displays the age group for the England population analysis. Total expected values are 18 and are define above in the age groups section.
• Population (Male): The male population in the England for the selected age group is shown in the following column.
• Population (Female): The female population in the England for the selected age group is shown in the following column.
• Total Population: The total population of the England for the selected age group is shown in the following column.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for England Population by Age. You can refer the same here

In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom reached 68.3 million, compared with 67.6 million in 2022. The UK population has more than doubled since 1871 when just under 31.5 million lived in the UK and has grown by around 8.2 million since the start of the twenty-first century. For most of the twentieth century, the UK population steadily increased, with two noticeable drops in population occurring during World War One (1914-1918) and in World War Two (1939-1945). Demographic trends in postwar Britain After World War Two, Britain and many other countries in the Western world experienced a 'baby boom,' with a postwar peak of 1.02 million live births in 1947. Although the number of births fell between 1948 and 1955, they increased again between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, with more than one million people born in 1964. Since 1964, however, the UK birth rate has fallen from 18.8 births per 1,000 people to a low of just 10.2 in 2020. As a result, the UK population has gotten significantly older, with the country's median age increasing from 37.9 years in 2001 to 40.7 years in 2022. What are the most populated areas of the UK? The vast majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of 57.7 million people in 2023. By comparison, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had populations of 5.44 million, 3.13 million, and 1.9 million, respectively. Within England, South East England had the largest population, at over 9.38 million, followed by the UK's vast capital city of London, at 8.8 million. London is far larger than any other UK city in terms of urban agglomeration, with just four other cities; Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow, boasting populations that exceed one million people.

Population, female (% of total population) in United Kingdom was reported at 50.77 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United Kingdom - Population, female (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

For further detailed information about methodology, users should consult the Labour Force Survey User Guide, included with the APS documentation. For variable and value labelling and coding frames that are not included either in the data or in the current APS documentation, users are advised to consult the latest versions of the LFS User Guides, which are available from the ONS Labour Force Survey - User Guidance webpages.

Occupation data for 2021 and 2022
The ONS has identified an issue with the collection of some occupational data in 2021 and 2022 data files in a number of their surveys. While they estimate any impacts will be small overall, this will affect the accuracy of the breakdowns of some detailed (four-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)) occupations, and data derived from them. None of ONS' headline statistics, other than those directly sourced from occupational data, are affected and you can continue to rely on their accuracy. The affected datasets have now been updated. Further information can be found in the ONS article published on 11 July 2023: Revision of miscoded occupational data in the ONS Labour Force Survey, UK: January 2021 to September 2022

APS Well-Being Datasets
From 2012-2015, the ONS published separate APS datasets aimed at providing initial estimates of subjective well-being, based on the Integrated Household Survey. In 2015 these were discontinued. A separate set of well-being variables and a corresponding weighting variable have been added to the April-March APS person datasets from A11M12 onwards. Further information on the transition can be found in the Personal well-being in the UK: 2015 to 2016 article on the ONS website.

APS disability variables
Over time, there have been some updates to disability variables in the APS. An article explaining the quality assurance investigations on these variables that have been conducted so far is available on the ONS Methodology webpage.

• age: single year of age, year and month of birth, age completed full-time education and age obtained highest qualification, age of oldest dependent child and age of youngest dependent child
• family unit and household: including a number of variables concerning the number of dependent children in the family according to their ages, relationship to head of household and relationship to head of family
• nationality and country of origin
• geography: including county, unitary/local authority, place of work, Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 2 (NUTS2) and NUTS3 regions, and whether lives and works in same local authority district
• health: including main health problem, and current and past health problems
• education and apprenticeship: including numbers and subjects of various qualifications and variables concerning apprenticeships
• industry: including industry, industry class and industry group for main, second and last job, and industry made redundant from
• occupation: including 4-digit Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for main, second and last job and job made redundant from
• system variables: including week number when interview took place and number of households at address

The Secure Access data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users will need to gain ONS Accredited Researcher status, complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables. Users are strongly advised to first obtain the standard EUL version of the data to see if they are sufficient for their research requirements.

Latest edition information

For the second edition (June 2025) updated versions of the weighting variables NPWT22, PIWTA22 and PWTA22 were added to the study. The reason for the adjustment is an issue ONS identified during a recent review of the weighting method, related to the application of the non-response adjustment for boost cases. In addition, the variable YLESS20 was also updated, and DIFFHR6 was replaced with DIFFHR20. Previously missing imputed values for 'IOUTCOME=6' cases have been added.

Principal projection for the UK - population by five-year age groups and sex.

United Kingdom UK: Population: Male: Ages 20-24: % of Male Population data was reported at 6.397 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.504 % for 2016. United Kingdom UK: Population: Male: Ages 20-24: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 7.006 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.797 % in 1986 and a record low of 6.102 % in 2000. United Kingdom UK: Population: Male: Ages 20-24: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 20 to 24 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Population ages 60-64, female (% of female population) in United Kingdom was reported at 6.0874 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United Kingdom - Population ages 50-64, female (% of female population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

Mid-year (30 June) estimates of the usual resident population for electoral wards in England and Wales.