Census 2011 results

The results of the 2011 Census published on Tuesday 11 December have highlighted that over the last ten years the population of England and Wales has both become larger and more diverse. The total population has grown by 7 per cent, from 52.4 million in 2001 to 56.1 million in 2011, up 3.7 million.

Of these additional people, around 2.1 million (55%) are due to net migration, whereas 1.6 million (45%) is due to natural increase.

Most media attention has focussed on the increase in migration over the last decade. However, the UK is also experiencing a baby boom. The total fertility rate (an estimate of the average number of children each woman of child bearing age will have) reached a high of 2.0 in 2010, up from 1.63 in 2001. Around a quarter of all births in 2010 were to non-UK born women, of whom 25% were born in the EU.

The growing diversity of the population is reflected in the fact that there are now 7.5 million people resident in England and Wales who were born outside the UK and of these around half (3.8 million) have arrived since 2001. The main change has been the growth in migrants from within the EU, with the top five countries of birth now being India, Poland, Pakistan, Ireland and Germany.

The full Census information is available on the ONS website and you can watch Newsnight's presentation and discussion of the Census 2011 data on iPlayer

The Migration Observatory has also made materials available on its Hot Topic - Census 2011 page.

Posted 17/12/2012 11:57