The population of England and Wales has seen its second biggest annual jump in 75 years due to surging immigration, new figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the population grew by 700,000 in the year to last June, almost entirely driven by migration.
The statistics watchdog said a small portion of the increase was driven by natural change, the difference between births and deaths. But net migration, the difference between those moving to England and Wales and those leaving, accounted for 690,147 of the increase.
Some 1,142,303 people were estimated to have arrived in England and Wales in the 12 months to June 2024 while 452,156 were likely to have left.
There were an estimated 61.8 million people in England and Wales in mid-2024, up 706,881 (1.2 per cent) from 61.1 million in mid-2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
It is the second largest numerical jump since at least 1949, when comparable data begins, behind only the rise of 821,210 that took place in the preceding 12 months from mid-2022 to mid-2023.
Nigel Henretty of the ONS said: “The population of England and Wales has increased each year since mid-1982.
“The rate of population increase has been higher in recent years and the rise seen in the year to mid-2024 represents the second largest annual increase in numerical terms in over 75 years.
“Net international migration continues to be the main driver of this growth, continuing the long-term trend seen since the turn of the century.”
Nigel Farage said the figures are “disastrous for the quality of life for everyone in the country”. The Reform UK leader said: “It puts impossible pressures on public services and further divides our communities.”
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to bring down sky-high migration, pressing ahead with a slate of reforms set out by the Conservatives in government. But the prime minister found himself in hot water after a major speech on migration in which he echoed Enoch Powell, warning that Britain risked becoming an “island of strangers”.
The PM also said that the number of people entering the country is causing “incalculable damage”. Going further than the Tories, Sir Keir vowed a ban on the recruitment of care workers from overseas, increased English language requirements for immigrants and the tightening of access to skilled worker visas.
The home secretary blamed the sky-high figures on “the Tory legacy on immigration”.
“Their failed open borders experiment resulted in net migration quadrupling to a peak of almost a million per year in 2023 even as they promised it would fall, and on their watch, in the final year before the election, net migration was three times higher than at the start of the last parliament,” Yvette Cooper said.
She added: “Under the Tories, overseas recruitment shot up while training in the UK was cut, lower skilled migration soared while the proportion of UK residents in work plummeted, and hundreds of thousands of people were given visas to arrive and stay in the UK without any requirement on them to speak or learn English.”
Ms Cooper said immigration has dropped steeply since the general election.
The number of people living in England and Wales has risen annually since mid-1982, with migration contributing most to population growth every year since mid-1999.
Before then, increases were caused mainly by natural change.
The rise of 706,881 in the 12 months to June 2024 is the second biggest year-on-year numerical jump in population since at least 1949, which is the earliest comparable ONS data.
It is behind only the rise of 821,210 that took place in the preceding 12 months from mid-2022 to mid-2023.
This means the population is estimated to have grown by 1.5 million between June 2022 and June 2024: the largest two-year jump since current records began.
