UK population 2023

In 2023, the population of the United Kingdom reached 68.3 million, compared with 67.6 million in 2022. The UK population has more than doubled since 1871 when just under 31.5 million lived in the UK and has grown by around 8.2 million since the start of the twenty-first century. For most of the twentieth century, the UK population steadily increased, with two noticeable drops in population occurring during World War One (1914-1918) and in World War Two (1939-1945).

Demographic trends in postwar Britain

After World War Two, Britain and many other countries in the Western world experienced a 'baby boom,' with a postwar peak of 1.02 million live births in 1947. Although the number of births fell between 1948 and 1955, they increased again between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s, with more than one million people born in 1964. Since 1964, however, the UK birth rate has fallen from 18.8 births per 1,000 people to a low of just 10.2 in 2020. As a result, the UK population has gotten significantly older, with the country's median age increasing from 37.9 years in 2001 to 40.7 years in 2022.

What are the most populated areas of the UK?

The vast majority of people in the UK live in England, which had a population of 57.7 million people in 2023. By comparison, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland had populations of 5.44 million, 3.13 million, and 1.9 million, respectively. Within England, South East England had the largest population, at over 9.38 million, followed by the UK's vast capital city of London, at 8.8 million. London is far larger than any other UK city in terms of urban agglomeration, with just four other cities; Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Glasgow, boasting populations that exceed one million people.

Estimated population of the United Kingdom from 1871 to 2023

Characteristic	Estimated mid-year population
1871	31,484,700
1872	31,874,200
1873	32,177,600
1874	32,501,500
1875	32,838,800
1876	33,200,000
1877	33,575,900
1878	33,943,800
1879	34,304,000
1880	34,622,900
1881	34,934,500
1882	35,206,600
1883	35,449,700
1884	35,724,200
1885	36,015,500
1886	36,313,600
1887	36,599,100
1888	36,881,300
1889	37,178,900
1890	37,484,800
1891	37,802,400
1892	38,134,100
1893	38,490,300
1894	38,859,100
1895	39,221,100
1896	39,599,100
1897	39,987,300
1898	40,380,800
1899	40,774,300
1900	41,154,600
1901	41,538,200
1902	41,892,700
1903	42,246,600
1904	42,611,400
1905	42,980,800
1906	43,361,100
1907	43,737,800
1908	44,123,800
1909	44,519,500
1910	44,915,900
1911	42,189,800
1912	42,373,600
1913	42,582,300
1914	42,956,900
1915	41,361,500
1916	40,536,300
1917	39,780,700
1918	39,582,000
1919	42,944,100
1920	43,646,400
1921	43,904,100
1922	44,331,500
1923	44,563,100
1924	44,885,600
1925	45,040,000
1926	45,217,600
1927	45,432,000
1928	45,622,200
1929	45,731,000
1930	45,888,900
1931	46,073,600
1932	46,335,000
1933	46,520,000
1934	46,666,000
1935	46,868,500
1936	47,081,300
1937	47,288,600
1938	47,494,100
1939	47,547,700
1940	46,029,200
1941	44,870,400
1942	44,323,000
1943	48,261,600
1944	48,459,600
1945	48,668,900
1946	48,987,800
1947	49,538,700
1948	50,033,200
1949	50,331,000
1950	50,381,500
1951	50,286,900
1952	50,429,200
1953	50,592,900
1954	50,764,900
1955	50,946,100
1956	51,183,500
1957	51,430,200
1958	51,652,500
1959	51,956,300
1960	52,372,500
1961	52,807,400
1962	53,291,800
1963	53,624,900
1964	53,990,800
1965	54,349,500
1966	54,642,700
1967	54,959,000
1968	55,213,500
1969	55,460,600
1970	55,632,200
1971	55,928,000
1972	56,096,700
1973	56,222,900
1974	56,235,600
1975	56,225,700
1976	56,216,100
1977	56,189,900
1978	56,178,000
1979	56,240,100
1980	56,329,700
1981	56,357,500
1982	56,290,700
1983	56,315,700
1984	56,409,300
1985	56,554,000
1986	56,683,800
1987	56,804,000
1988	56,916,400
1989	57,076,500
1990	57,237,500
1991	57,438,700
1992	57,584,500
1993	57,713,900
1994	57,862,100
1995	58,024,800
1996	58,164,400
1997	58,314,200
1998	58,474,900
1999	58,684,400
2000	58,886,100
2001	59,113,000
2002	59,365,700
2003	59,636,700
2004	59,950,400
2005	60,413,300
2006	60,827,100
2007	61,319,100
2008	61,823,800
2009	62,260,500
2010	62,759,500
2011	63,285,100
2012	63,710,800
2013	64,138,700
2014	64,619,500
2015	65,088,100
2016	65,607,100
2017	65,966,000
2018	66,288,900
2019	66,630,700
2020	66,744,100
2021	66,983,500
2022	67,602,800
2023	68,265,200

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Release date

October 2024

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Region

United Kingdom

Survey time period

1871 to 2023

Supplementary notes

This statistic is using original data from the Office for National Statistics and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0.

For data before 1971, please refer to the dataset 'UK population estimates 1838-2023'.

The source adds the following information regarding specific years:

1871-1910: Exclusive of the population of the Islands in the British Seas and of the portions of the Armed Forces and Merchant Service Abroad.

1871-1911: There are no figures available for Northern Ireland prior to 1911. Figures prior to 1911 include Eire (Northern Ireland and The Irish Free State).

1872-1873, 1911-1914, 1939, 1948-1951: Home population includes both civilians and home armed forces resident in the stated country, not any UK armed forces posted abroad.

1921-1938, 1943-1947: Total population includes civilians and all UK armed forces posted at home and abroad.

1915-1918, 1940-1942: Civilian population includes only civilians resident in the stated country, not any armed forces either posted home or abroad.