Population of London set to hit 8.3m high

12 April 2012

London's population is expected to soar by nearly 10 per cent to a new high of more than 8.3 million within eight years despite a slight fall in overall immigration, official figures show today.

A report from the Government's Office for National Statistics says that by 2018 an extra 670,000 people will be living in the capital compared with the 2008 total of nearly 7.7 million.

That amounts to an 8.7 per cent rise in a decade in a trend — driven by migration, higher birth rates and longer lifespans — which will increase the pressure on housing, schools, transport and other public services.

The biggest predicted increase is in Westminster, which is expected to see an 18.4 per cent growth in population by 2018, giving the borough a total of nearly 292,000 people.

Other boroughs where the number of residents is expected to soar include Kingston upon Thames, with a predicted 15 per cent increase, Southwark, with a 14.3 per cent rise, Camden, up 14.1 per cent, and Tower Hamlets, where the anticipated rise is 13.8 per cent. Longer-term estimates suggest such increases will continue after 2018 and that London's population will hit nine million by 2030.

The new projections were among a barrage of figures on immigration, population and citizenship published today in the first snapshot of migration trends since the new coalition Government came to power.

Other provisional figures, which will be adjusted upwards over the coming months to take account of grants of asylum and other additional inward migration, show immigration fell by nine per cent in the year to September 2009 to 503,000. Emigration, at 361,000 was also down, with 23 per cent fewer Britons moving abroad, leaving a net overall increase in the population during the year of 142,000. That is slightly lower than the comparable figure of 160,000 for 2008, but confirms large-scale net migration is continuing to push up the population.

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