Deaths outnumbered births in the UK in the 12 months to the end of June last year for the first time in nearly 50 years [1], excluding the Covid pandemic, new official figures show. It is now expected that deaths will outnumber births indefinitely.
There were 16,300 more deaths than births in the year to June 2023, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In Scotland and Wales, deaths outnumbered births while the opposite occurred in England and Northern Ireland, although not by a large margin.
The UK population still increased by the largest amount since the early 1970s, with net migration the driver across all four areas.
The ONS says the population grew by 662,400 to an estimated 68,265,200 people in the year to mid-2023 – a 1% increase.