UK records slowest population growth since 2003 due to pandemic

Many foreign-born workers left Britain after spread of Covid

Britain’s population increased to 67.1 million up to June 2020, rising from 66.8 in mid-2019, the Office for National Statistics estimated. Reuters

The UK’s population grew at its slowest pace in nearly two decades as the pandemic sparked a departure of foreign workers, new estimates released on Friday showed.

Office for National Statistics data showed Britain’s population increased to 67.1 million up to June 2020, rising from 66.8 in mid-2019, the weakest annual growth since 2003.

More than 127,000 people have died in Britain from coronavirus, Europe's highest Covid-19 death toll, although most of those were recorded after mid-2019.

The pandemic appears to have led to a sharp fall in immigration to Britain, at least temporarily.

The UK’s population growth rate in the year to mid-2020 dropped to 0.47 per cent from 0.54 per cent in the year to mid-2019, provisional data showed.

The ONS described the growth estimate as "marking one of the smallest increases seen in the context of historical trends".

Annual population growth in Britain exceeded 0.8 per cent in 2011 and 2016, reflecting high levels of net migration, especially from eastern and southern Europe.

Britain introduced tougher immigration rules at the start of this year, following its departure from the European Union, aimed at reducing the number of lower-skilled migrants.

The ONS has been unable to publish its usual immigration data for periods during the pandemic, as it relied on face-to-face surveys at airports.

Friday's population data included modelled estimates for net migration between March and June, drawing on a range of information including non-clinical health records, national insurance numbers, flight and ferry passenger details and border checks.

These showed 67,000 more people left Britain than arrived in the four months to the end of June 2020, compared with net immigration of 21,000 people over the same period in 2019.

Should this trend be sustained, 2020 would be the first year of net emigration from Britain since 1993.

The ONS said it would publish a more accurate population estimate for mid-2020 this summer.

An initial estimate by the ONS for Britain's population at the end of 2020 was 67.0 million to 67.2 million, depending on the migration assumptions used.