It is recommended to view this article on a PC as the interactive charts might not format correctly on a phone or tablet.

The following charts are comprised of two sources:

• Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending December 2025, which covers the year ending June 2012 to year ending December 2025.

• Long-term international migration 2.00, citizenship, UK, which covers 1964 to 2011 for British nationals and 1975 to 2011 for EU and non-EU nationals.

Both sources provided immigration, emigration and net migration breakdowns by nationality.

The ONS uses the United Nations (UN) definition of a long-term international migrant as some who moves to a country for 12 months (a year) or more.

The exact wording in the latest ONS release is as follows:

It’s also important to understand the difference between immigration, emigration and net migration.

• Immigration refers to those who are entering the country.

• Emigration refers to those who are leaving the country.

• Net migration is the difference between those entering and leaving the country.

For example, if, over a given period, 750,000 people were to enter the UK (immigrate) and 500,000 people left the UK (emigrate), then your net figure (net migration) would be 250,000.

With this out the way, it’s possible to map immigration, emigration and net migration of different groups, which can broadly be fit into the following categories.

• All nationalities

• British nationals

• European Union (EU) nationals

• Non-EU nationals

For detailed explanations of how these nationalities are defined over their coverage periods, see the notes and explanations in each ONS release.

From 2012, immigration releases cover a year end on a rolling 12-month basis ending in each quarter (March, June, September and December) and are released twice yearly by the ONS. Usually, one in May that covers September and December of the previous year, then one in November that covers March and June of that same year.

Most media outlets and Government departments only reference the year end June and year end December figures, though year end March and year end September figures can be referenced by some outlets, which can lead to confusion if not understood or made clear.

Please do note, these datasets span 50-61 years. The ONS has updated and refined their methodology, including backdated revisions (as we recently saw in November 2025) and these are only estimates. However, absent any other data or going back in time and having a proper entry and exit system where we sign people in and out the country, this is the best we’ve got.

There is Bank of England data on immigration, emigration and net migration going back to 1853 / 1855, however this offers no breakdown of the nationalities entering or leaving, so I haven’t included it.

All nationalities (1964 to December 2025)

The following three charts cover immigration, emigration and net migration of all nationalities from 1964 to December 2025. These will be the figures that are most widely used by the Government, Home Office, ONS, media, journalists and other outlets when discussing migration figures.

British nationals (1964 to December 2025)

The following three charts cover immigration, emigration and net migration of British nationals from 1964 to December 2025. Please see the definition section of both documents if you want to understand more about what constitutes a British national, as it has changed over time.

EU nationals (1975 to December 2025)

The following three charts cover immigration, emigration and net migration of EU nationals from 1975 to December 2025. Please see the definitions of both documents if you want to know more about what constitutes an EU national, as membership of the EU has changed over time and in recent releases, people from countries like Norway are counted as EU nationals.

Non-EU nationals (1975 to December 2025)

The following three charts cover immigration, emigration and net migration of non-EU nationals from 1975 to December 2025. Please see the definition section of both documents if you want to understand more about what constitutes a non-EU national.

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On 2 August 2026, Rupert Lowe released a 12-minute video and outlined five principles whereby Restore Britain and Reform UK could agree and work together; one of these principles is that of ‘demographic security’:

Lowe was referring to the findings of a report by Professor Matt Goodwin of the University of Buckingham, which was released on 29 May 2025. The report projects that if recent fertility rates and levels of migration continue, White Britons will become a minority by 2063. If you expand this to include ‘White Other’, that date is pushed back 16 years, to 2079. The report also includes projections on religious identity and country of birth, projecting the foreign-born population and their descendants (second-generation migrants).

This has sparked debate on what it means to be ‘White British’.

Nick Robinson interviewed Rupert Lowe on BBC Radio 4 Today and asked:

Rupert Lowe did not say whether he thought King Charles was a White Briton.

Fraser Nelson joined in and quoted the interview, stating:

The Telegraph published an article; Restore Britain is beyond the pale. The article states:

LBC published an article; All Royals not considered ‘white British’ by Restore definition, as Princess Eugenie’s daughter born out of UK. The article states:

Some commentators in response to this debate have even suggested that under this definition of a White Briton, someone born on a military base to two White British parents would not be White British by virtue of not being born in the UK.

What these examples share is that they are all wrong. There is no strict definition of what defines someone as ‘White British’ — it has nothing to do with needing to have two White British parents, be born in a particular part of the UK, be born outside a military base or any other set of criteria.

Matt Goodwin, the author of the report, has stated so on X:

As stated before, the Goodwin report also projects the population of the UK to 2122 by religion and country of birth. So where does this misunderstanding come from? Perhaps Fraser Nelson, Nick Robinson, The Telegraph and LBC have confused the ethnicity part of this projection with the country-of-birth projection for those who are second-generation immigrants.

However, if you read the Goodwin report in full, on page 7 it states:

Then on pages 22 – 23 in the appendix, it states:

This would exclude King Charles from the second-generation category, as while his father, Prince Philip, was born outside the UK, King Charles was born prior to 2022 and, as such, would not be counted as a second-generation immigrant. This also explains why the population pyramid looks so wonky, as second-generation migrants are only counted from 2022 onwards.

Nick Robinson, Fraser Nelson and countless others have misread the report or, more likely, not read it at all. Nowhere does the Goodwin report define a ‘White Briton’ as someone with two UK-born parents, or a given number of UK-born ancestors, nor does it require that the individual be born in the UK.

The Goodwin report is not the only projection showing significant White British decline in the decades ahead. David Coleman published a paper in 2010 that projected White Britons (with White Irish included) would become a minority in 2066. Coleman assumed net migration of 180,000 per year.

Lomax et al. published a paper in 2019 projecting the ethnic makeup of the UK to 2061 under three Brexit scenarios. They also merge White British and White Irish into a single group called WBI, which falls from 82.4% in 2011 to:

• 57.9% under no Brexit (net migration of 252,000 a year)

• 59.6% under soft Brexit (net migration of 185,000 a year)

• 64.5% under hard Brexit (net migration of 100,000 a year)

So, what is White British?

‘White British’ is an ethnicity classification used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and various Government departments for any individual who identifies as being ‘White’ and has an ‘English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British’ background.

The 2021 census for England and Wales was administered by the ONS, with the 2021 census for Northern Ireland administered by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and the 2022 census for Scotland administered by National Records of Scotland (NRS). For simplicity, I will focus purely on the 2021 census for England, as this is where the bulk of readers will be from and where the bulk of demographic change has occurred and will continue to occur in future.

Below is the page from the individual questionnaire form for the 2021 census for England, which contains the ethnic group question. The wording is identical in the household questionnaire, except the latter contains questions for up to five household members, rather than a single individual.

Note that the wording of the question is “What is your ethnic group?”

According to the ONS, 89% of households completed the 2021 census online. The online version of the ethnicity question differed slightly.

If completing the 2021 census online, the first question asks, “What is your ethnic group?” and displays the following options.

If you were to select “White”, the second question asks, “Which one best describes your White ethnic group or background?” and displays the following options.

Example screenshots for the 2021 census can be found here and for information on how the ethnicity questions for the 2021 census for England and Wales were developed and categorised, that can be found here.

This is all to say that ‘White British’ is an entirely self-ascribed category and always has been. If King Charles, Nigel Farage’s children and Boris Johnson identify as being ‘White’ and ‘English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British’, then they are classed as ‘White British’. If they tick something else, they will go under that respective classification.

It is incorrect for Nick Robinson, Fraser Nelson or any other journalist or commentator to state or imply otherwise.

Over 1.1 million residents in England and Wales who identified as ‘White British’ were born outside the UK. The 2021 census recorded 59,597,490 residents in England and Wales, of whom 44,355,028 (74.4%) identified as ‘White British’, with 43,198,418 (97.4%) being born in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland — leaving 1,156,610 born elsewhere. The top five countries of birth were Germany (149,838), South Africa (101,425), Poland (73,685), Romania (63,101) and the United States (59,036).

Why are they using a false definition?

There are two main reasons. The first is that these individuals do not understand how the census works or how population projections work and have not read the Goodwin report — they have honestly misunderstood what ‘White British’ refers to and relayed inaccurate information.

The second would be that this is an intentional misrepresentation to try and derail any mainstreaming of ‘White British’ decline going further. If White Britons have some stricter definition that isn’t applied to other ethnic groups and such a definition would exclude people like King Charles, Winston Churchill, Harry Kane and Farage’s own children, then who can truly define a White Briton, and if no-one can define a White Briton, how can they become a minority?

Schools in England

This section contains an overview of all the sources used to compile the ethnic makeup of state-funded primary and state-funded secondary schools in England from 2003 to 2026, though releases for 1996 to 2002 are linked if you are interested.

As the school census takes place in January, the releases used to be labelled January followed by the year, e.g. January 2016, which is now referenced as the 2015/16 academic year. If you wish to review any of these releases, you may see both used interchangeably.

• 1996: All Schools: 1996 dataset (ED 267/80)

• 1997: All Schools: 1997 dataset (ED 267/81)

From 1998 onwards, human readable bulletins are available in PDF or Excel formats, and pupils where an ethnicity isn’t stated are disaggregated, rather than being counted with white pupils as non-ethnic minority pupils.

• 1998: Schools in England 1998, Table 49a for primary schools and Table 49b for secondary schools

• 1999: Schools in England 1999, Table 49a for primary schools and Table 49b for secondary schools

• 2000: Schools in England 2000, Table 49a for primary schools and Table 49b for secondary schools

• 2001: Schools in England 2001, Table 47a for primary schools and Table 47b for secondary schools

• 2002: Statistics of Education Schools in England 2002 Edition, Table 47a for primary schools and Table 47b for secondary schools

• 2003: Statistics of Education Schools in England 2003 Edition, Table 47a for primary schools and Table 47b for secondary schools

• 2004: Statistics of Education Schools in England 2004 Edition, Table 47a for primary schools and Table 47b for secondary schools

• 2005: Schools and Pupils in England: January 2005 (Final), Table 5 for both primary and secondary schools in the PDF. Table 32 for primary schools and Table 33 for secondary schools in the Excel document

• 2006: Schools and Pupils in England: January 2006 (Final), Table 5 for both primary and secondary schools in the PDF. Table 32 for primary schools and Table 33 for secondary schools in the Excel document

• 2007: DCSF: Schools and Pupils in England: January 2007 (Final), Table 5 for both primary and secondary schools in the PDF. Table 32 for primary schools and Table 33 for secondary schools in the Excel document

• 2008: DCSF: Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008, Table 8a for primary schools and Table 8b for secondary schools

• 2009: DCSF: Schools, Pupils and Their Characteristics: January 2009, Table 4 in the Excel document for both primary and secondary schools

Data from January 2010 onwards is much easier to access and less fragmented across different releases and with different naming schemes. The data is hosted on the official UK Government website and is maintained by the Department for Education (DfE).

While you can find 2010 (and newer) releases on The National Archives website, there is no point in using them, as this data is still maintained and accessible on the official UK Government website.

• 2010: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2010, National tables: SFR09/2010, Table 4

• 2011: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2011, Main national tables: SFR12/2011, Table 4

• 2012: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2012, National tables: SFR10/2012, Table 4a

• 2013: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2013, National tables: SFR21/2013, Table 4a

• 2014: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2014, National tables: SFR15/2014, Table 4a

• 2015: Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2015, National tables: SFR16/2015, Table 4a

January 2016 – January 2026, or if using the new naming scheme, the 2015/16 – 2025/26 academic year

From the 2015/16 academic year onwards, the DfE changed how the data is released. While you can find the Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2016 release on the website (including the 2017, 2018 and 2019 releases as well), it’s much simpler to download the ZIP file from the latest Schools, pupils and their characteristics release, currently 2025/26, extract the ZIP file and in the ‘data’ folder, open spc_pupils_ethnicity_and_language.

You can sort at the national level, disaggregate state-funded primary and secondary schools and view the exact number and percentage of pupils from the 2015/16 to 2025/26 academic year.

Note: From January 2018 onwards, ethnicity was collected for children below compulsory school age. Prior to January 2018, it was only collected for compulsory school age children. This change did not significantly alter the percentages for any ethnic group, though (expectedly) it did increase total numbers in each ethnic group and total pupils listed.

In the example below, I have taken the CSV file, sorted the period to the 2015/16 academic year, set the geographic level to national and sorted to only show state-funded primary schools. You can do the same for state-funded secondary schools or show the total.

There is some disparity between the figures, the Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2016 release shows a total of 3,655,225 pupils in state-funded primary schools, of which 2,483,503 were White British. The CSV file, once sorted, shows a total of 3,656,083 pupils in state-funded primary schools, a difference of 858, and shows a total of 2,483,503 White British pupils, a difference of zero. As the CSV file is supported and still updated, capturing any late registrations or imputation errors, I am taking it as the authoritative source.

You can then copy across the figures for all ethnic groups and build a document that covers 1998 to 2026 and work out the percentages for all ethnic groups, across all years, in both state-funded primary and secondary schools.

Ethnic minority is defined as all ethnicities excluding ‘White British’ and excluding pupils who don’t have an ethnicity stated. This aligns with how the DfE produce these statistics and the accompanying summaries on what percentage of school enrolment are ethnic minority pupils.

Schools in Wales

Pupils aged 5 or over by ethnic background, 2004 to 2025. This ad-hoc request was produced by the Welsh Government schools’ statistical team.

Table1 covers all years from 2004 to 2025, including numbers and percentages for all ethnic groups, across all years.

Schools in Scotland

All releases below cover 2003 to 2025: Pupil census supplementary statistics

• Pupil census 2007 supplementary statistics, Table 1.11 for 2007 and 1.12 for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006

• Pupil census 2008 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2009 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2010 supplementary tables, Table 1.9

• Pupil census 2011 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2012 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2013 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2014 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2015 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2016 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2017 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2018 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2019 supplementary tables, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2020 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2021 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2022 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census 2023 supplementary statistics, Table 1.10

• Pupil census supplementary statistics 2024, Table 1.10

• Pupil census supplementary statistics 2025, Table 1.10

Schools in Northern Ireland

From 2005/06 to 2014/15, ethnicity data was included in both Table 6a and 6b. Table 6a covered nursery schools, nursery classes, reception and other pre-school centres. Table 6b covered nursery schools, nursery classes, reception, primary schools, secondary schools, grammar schools and special schools.

Table 6b is used for 2005/06 to 2014/15. For all following years, Table 6a is used.

Note: There was industrial action for the 2023/24 academic year, and no ethnicity data was recorded. This year has been left blank.

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2005/06, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2006/07, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2007/08, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2008/09, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2009/10, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2010/11, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2011/12, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2012/13, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2013/14, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2014/15, Table 6b

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2015/16, Table 6a

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2016/17, Table 6a

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2017/18, Table 6a

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2018/19, Table 6a

• Enrolments at schools and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2019/20, Table 6a

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2020/21, Table 6a

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2021/22, Table 6a

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2022/23, Table 6a

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2023/24, N/A due to industrial action, no ethnicity figures recorded

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2024/25, Table 6a

• Enrolments at school and in funded pre-school education in Northern Ireland 2025/26, Table 6a

The mainline Northern Ireland school enrolment statistics do not include the number of pupils who don’t have an ethnicity stated. An ad-hoc request was obtained from the Statistical Analysis Team at the Department of Education covering 2010/11 to 2025/26, with more detailed ethnic breakdowns and the number of pupils without a stated ethnicity. The number of unclassified pupils is remarkably low in Northern Ireland, consistently below 1,000 a year and sometimes as few as 7, so would not impact headline figures.

If you wish to acquire this ad-hoc release, you can email statistics@education-ni.gov.uk and request the document titled “Compulsory school age pupils in NI schools by ethnic background”. I have also included a screenshot of the table below.

Independent (private) schools

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) publishes a yearly census, and some participating independent schools provide ethnicity information. According to the ISC, they cover 85% of pupils in the UK who are educated in independent schools, so this is the most accurate method available.

• ISC Annual Census 2009, Fig 4a

• ISC Annual Census 2010, Fig 6

• ISC Annual Census 2011, Fig 6

• ISC Annual Census 2012, Fig 6

• ISC Annual Census 2013, Fig 17

• ISC Annual Census 2014, Fig 15

• ISC annual Census 2015, Fig 21

• ISC annual Census 2016, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2017, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2018, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2019, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2020, Fig 15

• ISC annual Census 2021, Fig 15

• ISC annual Census 2022, Fig 15

• ISC annual Census 2023, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2024, Fig 16

• ISC annual Census 2025, Fig 18

• ISC annual Census 2026, Table 3.4

UPDATE: In the year end March 2026 citizenship summary release, the Home Office revised up the number of applications for British citizenship from 291,971 to 295,531. This officially makes 2025 the current record holder.

This article was originally posted on X. I am re-posting it here, with some small amendments, to improve visibility and accessibility.

In a recent article for The Critic, I claimed:

I was wrong — not about the number of applications for British citizenship in 2025 or 2020, unless the Home Office revise these figures in a future release, however I was wrong about 2025 being the highest on record.

That record is still held by 1987, by some 3,476 applications.

In the Home Office Citizenship summary tables, year ending December 2025 document, on Table Cit_02, it does show 295,447 applications in 1987, so why did I ignore this figure?

Essentially, because it looked implausible, how could we go from 295,447 applications in 1987 and then fall to 33,147 in 1988, that’s an 89% drop in just one year.

I assumed (wrongly) that the figure of 295,447 British citizenship applications in 1987 must have been a cumulative total up-to that point, or at least the total number of applications from 1962 to 1987, which is when the Home Office claim records in the form of Command Papers began.

1962 to 1987 encompasses 25 years and 295,447 spread out over a 25-year period would average around 11,818~ citizenship applications per year, which seemed a reasonable figure for the time, given levels of immigration in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were substantially lower than they are today.

Plus, there is also no mention in the notes section of the citizenship summary document, or Home Office immigration statistics user guide on why British citizenship applications were so high in 1987. Even researchers from Oxford’s Migration Observatory have made the same mistake as I did and claimed citizenship applications were highest in 2025. See this post from May 2026 titled: “Expert Comment: Net migration, asylum hotels and citizenship - what to look for on UK Migration Statistics day”

This is particularly annoying as if you download an older citizenship table, such as the Q1 2012 dataset from the immigration statistics, January to March 2012 release, there is a note that explains why applications were so high in 1987:

Such a note is absent in the newer Home Office releases. If you are reading this in several weeks, months or years, it’s possible they might have added this note back in or mention the spike in the user guide. This is part of a recuring trend where newer Home Office releases often have less information than older releases in the same series and when queried, the Home Office migration statistics team will cite some vague “user feedback” or say the releases were condensed to improve readability, even though the purpose of these statistics is to be as detailed as possible.

Transitional arrangements in the British Nationality Act 1981, which among many things, ended birthright citizenship, came to an end on 31 December 1987. This led to an explosion in the number of people applying for British citizenship to beat the deadline.

Here’s a clip from the BBC Archives, which mentions in the weak leading up-to the deadline, over 8,000 applications were received.

The following excerpt is also provided on the Parliament website:

The Home Office doesn’t appear to have any data on British citizenship applications prior to 1987, at least records that are publicly available.

After some enquiries with the House of Commons Enquiry Service (who I must say are very helpful), they were able to track down a debate in the House of Lords on 3 March 1988, where some information is provided on the number of completed naturalisation and registration applications from 1979 onwards.

Combining the completed naturalisation and registration applications together, we can roughly gauge the following British citizenship applications by year:

• 1979: 31,855

• 1980: 38,984

• 1981: 55,966

• 1982: 82,059

• 1983: 61,119

• 1984: 78,120

• 1985: 57,001

• 1986: 50,536

• 1987: 295,447 (taken from Home Office release, rather than provisional figure above)

A debate on British nationality took place in the House of Commons on 11 April 1984 and there are some references to registration applications made in previous years:

Indeed, the Home Office estimated that there would be only 15,000 applications for registration in 1982–83. It was miles out when it made that estimate. There has never been such a low figure as 15,000 in any one of the previous 10 years; in fact, in 1981 there were not 15,000 but 40,000 applications.

The Home Office estimated that registrations would run at two and a half times the number of naturalisations, and on that basis—even on its own figures—it should have been expecting 35,000 applications. In fact, there were 70,000 applications, not 35,000.

In 1977, the nationality division processed about 24,000 applications. In 1981–82 it processed 50,449, in 1982–83 79,418, in 1983–84 67,332 and in 1984–85 66,000.

The following excerpt is also available from a debate in the House of Commons on 5 November 1987 concerning nationality and includes registration applications for 1985 (33,756) and 1986 (37,873).

I think both of these debates are less useful as they only seem to concern registration applications, not naturalisation and the House of Lords debate took place at a later date, so the figures referenced are more likely to be up to date.

If you add in the 1979 to 1986 application numbers, the end result would look like this.

This might not be a bullet-proof method, but absent of any other data, I think this quite a good picture of British citizenship applications up-to 1987.

If the Home Office has data going back further or figures which differ from the above, they should release them.

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The ONS estimates the following population sizes for 2024:

• United Kingdom: 69,281,400 (69.28m)

• England: 58,620,100 (58.62m)

• Wales: 3,186,600 (3.19m)

• Scotland: 5,546,900 (5.55m)

• Northern Ireland: 1,927,900 (1.93m)

These official estimates go so far back as 1971, even though estimates exist prior to this date, with the first census being conducted in England, Scotland and Wales in 1801 and the first census for Northern Ireland being conducted in 1926.

The Bank of England has a dataset titled “A millennium of macroeconomic data”, a massive Microsoft Excel document, at 28MB in size. This document encompasses an incredible amount of data on wages, exchange rates, debt, populations, agriculture, immigration, emigration, inflation and more.

With this data, which is compiled from a plethora of different sources, all of which are cited on the ‘Front page’ table, we can plot the population of England from 1086, Wales and Scotland from 1680, Northern Ireland from 1687 and the United Kingdom from 1922.

The population of the United Kingdom has increased from 44.39 million in 1922 to 69.28 million in 2024. Population growth levelled off after the early 1970s, when the birth rate in England and Wales fell below replacement and started accelerating again after the late 1990s, due to increased international immigration.

It’s expected the population of the United Kingdom will exceed 70 million sometime in 2026.

The population for England goes back much further, all the way back to 1086, nearly 1,000 years ago.

The population of England is estimated at 1.71 million in 1086, increasing to 58.62 million in 2024.

Note the impact of the Black Death between 1346 and 1353. Across Europe, it’s estimated this pandemic killed between 25 to 50 million people, potentially wiping out as much as 50% of Europe’s population.

The population of Wales is estimated at just shy of 350,000 in 1680 and is currently 3.19 million.

Wales suffered a severe economic difficulty in the mid 1920s. The Welsh economy was largely built on exporting coal and steel, which were hit by increased production from South America, poor exchange rates and Germany paying reparations in coal, reducing demand for coal from Wales. It’s estimated around 390,000 emigrated from Wales between 1925 and 1939.

The population of Scotland was estimated at 1.1 million in 1680 and is currently at 5.55 million. Scotland has seen relatively mild population growth in recent decades.

The birth rate in Scotland is the lowest of any country in the United Kingdom. The uptick in recent years is the result of internal migration and international migration, though immigration into Scotland remains much below the levels seen in England.

One explanation for increased internal migration could be the increasing number of retirees choosing to reside in Scotland, according to a post on LinkedIn from 2022, since 2018, nearly 11,000 additional retirees have resided in Scotland.

The population of Northern Ireland was estimated at 383,000 in 1687 and is currently at 1.93 million.

Northern Ireland has the highest birth rate of any country in the United Kingdom and little international migration compared to England, Wales and Scotland.

The population of Northern Ireland declined massively after 1840s due to the Great Famine, or as it’s sometimes also called, the Potato Famine or Great Hunger.

Note: from 1801 to 1922, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Chart below is for Northern Ireland only.

This famine resulted in estimated 1 million deaths in Ireland, with many more emigrating to Britain or America.

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