There are now more people in Britain than ever before

The UK’s population is at a record level after it increased by almost half a million to 64.6 million within a year, according to official figures.

The increase between mid-2013 and mid-2014 included net immigration of 259,700, the Office for National Statistics said. Over that period 582,600 migrants arrived in the UK, compared with 322,900 people leaving.

Net international migration was the highest since the year to mid-2011 and up by 76,300 from 183,400. An ONS spokesman said the statistics showed that the UK population had grown by almost half a million since mid-2013, up 0.77 per cent to 64,596,800 – higher than the annual increase of 0.75 per cent over the past decade.

The estimated population of England in mid-2014 was 54.3 million, up 0.84 per cent, with the corresponding figures for Scotland standing at 5.3 million (up 0.37 per cent), 3.1 million in Wales (0.31 per cent), and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland (0.59 per cent).

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