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The population of the UK is growing at its fastest rate since the 1960s, boosted by women having more babies, official figures showed on Tuesday.
The population rose by 1.5 million to more than 60 million between 2001 and 2006 and is projected to jump to 65 million by 2016, the Office for National Statistics said in its first annual report on the UK population.
One of the main factors behind the rise was an increase in fertility rates, especially among women in their late 20s and in their 30s, the statistics office said.
The average number of children born to each woman in the UK rose from 1.6 in 2001 to 1.8 in 2006, the highest level since 1980.
The rate is higher among women who have migrated to Britain than those born in the country, the statistics office said, a fact which is likely to contribute to more rapid population growth in the future as more migrants move to Britain.
One in every five babies born in Britain in 2006 was delivered by a woman who was non-UK born.
But the population is also being boosted by the fact that people are living longer.
In 2006, the estimated number of people aged 85 and over was 1.2 million, a figure expected to rise to 2.9 million by 2031.
The report found immigrants accounted for 10 per cent of the UK population in 2006, compared with 6 per cent 25 years earlier.
Seven per cent of the total overseas-born population of the UK were born in the eastern and central European countries that joined the EU in 2004.
Westminster, Camden, Oxford, Kensington and Chelsea and Cambridge have seen the highest levels of population growth.
- Reuters
