UK population rises to 61 million

More than three quarters of a million children were born in the UK last year, as fertility rates hit their highest levels in a generation.

The boom fuelled the biggest rise in the population since the 1960s, despite an apparent end to the vast wave of Eastern European immigration of recent years.

The UK population is now 61.4 million, a rise of more than 400,000 since last year - the highest numerical increase since 1962 and a rise of two million since 2001.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed the recession-linked change in immigration trends, as tens of thousands of Eastern Europeans returned home and the number of new arrivals plummeted.

That seismic shift meant that for first time in nearly a decade birth and death rates overtook immigration as the biggest factor affecting population growth. But immigrants were still contributing to the population increase as half of all new births last year were to women born outside the UK.

ONS statistician Roma Chappell highlighted the significance of the shift.

"That's actually quite exciting because it's the highest fertility rate we have seen in the UK for some time. You have to go all the way back to 1993 to find a time when the fertility rate went higher. For the first time in a decade natural change exceeded net migration as the main driver of population change."

"Prior to 1998 natural change was higher than net migration. This isn't a new phenomenon for the UK. If you go back it was quite common for natural change to exceed net migration as a driver of population growth."

The figures confirmed the growth in the ageing population as the number of people over 85 hit a record high. There are now 1.3 million, making up 2% of the UK population.