The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has forecast that fewer births and lower-than-expected life expectancy will end “natural” population growth.
By 2025 there will be more deaths than births in the UK, the statistics agency said.
The ONS estimated in 2014 that the population would reach almost 75m by 2040. But statisticians now say it will reach just 71m by 2045.
This means immigration will be the only driver of population growth from 2030 onwards:
This year, for the first time in recent history, India’s fertility rate has fallen below replacement levels, which means its population is set to start shrinking much earlier than thought.
As a result, UN projections about population growth will probably have to be revised, and we will reach the point at which the world’s population is shrinking sooner than we all thought.
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