UK Could Face Nearly 25% Growth In Population By 2046 Due To Record Migration - Think-Tank

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2023) The population of the United Kingdom could increase by almost 16 million people by 2046 if the government does not take measures to reduce the flow of migrants coming into the country, Migration Watch UK, an independent and non-political think-tank, said Thursday.

"With net migration now running at over 600,000 a year, the most glaring result will be a worsening of the housing crisis with new Migration Watch UK projections suggesting that the UK population is on course - on present immigration levels - to shoot well past 80 million by 2046 ... A new Migration Watch UK report finds that if net migration remains close to last year's record level of 606,000 (the highest ever) and the birth rate remains at around the present level, nearly sixteen million people would be added to the population of the UK over the next twenty-five years - that is approaching twice the current population of London," Migration Watch UK said in a report on the website.

The UK's current population stands at 69 million people, but it could reach between 83 and 87 million by 2046 if net migration continues at the present record level, the report said. The UK government will have to build "between six and eight million more homes - equal to between 15 and 18 more cities the size of Birmingham," which would mean the construction of "about 260,000 homes per year just to cope with population growth over the period - or nearly 720 per day."

The think-tank noted, however, that reducing net migration to 100,000 people per year or less would avoid "adding yet further pressure to the very serious housing shortage that we now face" and "young people would have a brighter prospect of putting their feet on the property ladder.

" The organization added that the reduced net migration "would also preserve more beautiful UK countryside from being bulldozed to make way for housing."

Birmingham is the second-largest city in the UK, with a population of over 1.144 million people, according to the 2021 census.

The UK Office of National Statistics estimated in late May that around 606,000 more people have moved to the UK than left in the 12 months up to December 2022.

Earlier this year, the UK government made immigration agreements with a number of countries, including Rwanda, Albania and France, and banned foreign students from bringing family members to the UK as part of the new plan to reduce migration. In addition, the UK authorities took measures to cut illegal migration to the country by housing asylum seekers in barges docked off the British coast instead of hotels.

In August 2022, over 13,500 people crossed the English Channel to enter the UK illegally, which is an all-time monthly high since the beginning of the migration crisis in 2019. The total number of migrants who entered the UK in 2022 was over 44,000. British media reported that the country was spending about 7 million Pounds ($8.7 million) per day to house migrants in hotels.