Why population growth in England and Wales has fallen to lowest rate in years

• Population growth in England and Wales has slowed to its lowest rate since the Covid -19 pandemic , increasing by 0.4% to an estimated 62.0 million in mid-2025, a significant drop from 1.4% in 2023 and 1.0% in 2024.
• The primary reason for this slowdown is a sharp fall in net international migration , which decreased to 211,700 in the year to mid-2025, down from 612,500 in the previous 12 months.
• A slight reduction in natural change, the difference between births and deaths, also contributed, with 588,000 births (the lowest since mid-1978) and 568,400 deaths (the lowest since mid-2019).
• Around one in four local areas experienced a population decline, with Wales recording its first population drop in a decade and London seeing a slight decrease as more people moved out of the capital.
• Nigel Henretty from the ONS confirmed that while migration remains the main driver of population change, the recent fall has led to the smallest population growth since the height of the pandemic.