Demographics:
58,789,194
Census: snapshot of the UK's population
The population of the United Kingdom on Census Day
2001 was 58,789,194.
The populations of individual countries were: England
49,138,831 (83.6 per cent of the total population);
Scotland 5,062,011 (8.6 per cent); Wales 2,903,085
(4.9 per cent); Northern Ireland 1,685,267 (2.9 per
cent).
The UK population has grown
by 17 per cent overall since 1951, but compared with
many other developed countries over the same period,
the UK population is growing more slowly. It is smaller
than the average growth for EU Europe (23 per cent)
and considerably smaller than some countries - for
example USA 80 per cent; and Australia 133 per cent.
For the first time, people 60
and over form a larger part of the population than
children under 16 - 21 per cent compared to 20 per
cent. There has also been a big increase in the number
of people aged 85 and over - now over 1.1 million,
or 1.9 per cent of the population.
Overall, the population of England
has grown by 2,318,000 (5 per cent) in the past 20
years but there have been big variations in the English
regions with the North East and North West regions
experiencing a decline in population while the South
West, East and South East have seen population growth
of 10 per cent or more.
Population
aged under 16 and 65 and over, United Kingdom
In 2001 there were 11.9 million children aged
under 16 in the United Kingdom: 6.1 million boys and
5.8 million girls. Children made up 20 per cent of
the population in 2001 compared with 23 per cent in
1961. Projections suggest that the proportion of the
population who are children will continue to fall
to around 18 per cent of the population by 2011.
There were 9.4 million people
aged 65 and over in 2001. This represents an increase
of 51 per cent since 1961. There were 1.1 million
people aged 85 and over in 2001, over three times
as many as in 1961.
Projections suggest that the number of people aged
65 and over will exceed the numbers aged under 16
by 2014. By 2025 there will be more than 1.6 million
more people over the age of 65 than people under 16.
