UK population nears 62 million

Birth and death rates, rather than immigration, are the biggest growth factor for second year in succession

 

 

The number of births has fallen, but natural change still accounts for the bulk of the growth in the population figure. Photograph: Roger Bamber / Alamy/Alamy

 

The population of the UK reached nearly 62 million last year despite a second successive annual fall in net migration, according to figures published by the Office of National Statistics today.

The population rose by 394,000 from mid-2008 to reach 61.8 million at the end of June last year. The number of people in the UK has risen from 59.1 million in 2001, a reflection of fact that net migration and births outstripped deaths over most of the past eight years.

Last year was only the second time since 2001 that net migration was not responsible for the majority of the UK's population growth. The other was in 2007-8.

The bulk of the growth from mid-2008 to mid-2009 was due to natural change – the difference between births and deaths – which was 217,000. Migration accounted for 70% of population growth in 2001-2, while in 2008-9 natural change was responsible for 55% of growth .

Net migration – the difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants – fell 15,000 to 176,000 last year, but the total was still 23% above the 2001-02 figure of 143,000.

Natural change was down slightly on the previous year's figure but the number was still 250% higher than in 2001-2002, when 62,000 more births than deaths were recorded.

The number of deaths in the UK in 2008-9 remained at the same level as in 2007-8, but the number of births fell 4,000 to 787,000.

An ONS spokesman said: "Until mid-2008, the number of births was increasing partly due to rising fertility among UK-born women and partly because there were more women of childbearing ages due to inflows of female migrants to the UK. However the recent decline is driven by a decrease in the UK-born female population of childbearing age."

According to the data, women in their 20s and early 30s who are married are more likely to give birth than those who are cohabiting. But women aged 35 and above who were cohabiting showed fertility levels 58% higher than those who were married.

Last year's figures showed a 4,000 decrease in immigrants to 562,000 and an 11,000 increase in emigrants to 386,000.

The two successive falls in net migration, after years of increases, coincided with the introduction of the UK's points-based system for immigrants which limits the right to enter or remain in the UK to skilled workers. The introduction of the scheme by the Labour government in 2008 followed concerns that the far-right BNP party was winning support by playing on fears that immigration was stretching public services and pushing down the wages of the lowest paid.

The coalition government said today that new measures to curtail the number of migrants coming to the UK would reduce net migration dramatically.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, said: "We believe that immigration has been far too high in recent years, which is why the new government will reduce net migration back down to the levels of the 1990s – to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands.

"Over the coming weeks and months the public will see us tackle this issue by introducing a wide range of new measures to ensure that immigration is properly controlled, including a limit on work permits, actions on marriage and an effective system of regulating the students who come here."

The 394,000 increase in the UK population last year amounts to a 0.6% rise, equivalent to the average annual rate of population growth since 2001. That compares to 0.3% each year between 1991 and 2001 and 0.2% each year between 1981 and 1991.
 
By Haroon Siddique

• Guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 June 2010 19.03 BST
• Article history

Newscribe : get free news in real time

Asian currencies to rise in looming slowdown: StanChart

By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch 

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian currencies could be about to break their long-standing link to the global industrial cycle and transform into good safe havens if the world economy heads for a new major slowdown, according to some analysts. 

Though they have historically tracked movements in the U.S. ISM Manufacturing Index, analysts at Standard Chartered said Thursday that the region's currencies may decouple from this pattern in coming quarters, thanks to China's new currency policy.

 Detail of a 1,000 New Taiwan Dollar note

 The [People's Bank of China] wants to show the market that  the new yuan exchange rate is genuinely flexible and more market-driven than the previous framework," Standard Chartered analysts said Thursday in a note co-authored by Shanghai-based head of research for Greater China, Stephen Green.

 The strengthening yuan, they added, is "medium-term bullish"  for Asian currencies by supporting widening interest-rate spreads with the U.S. dollar that attract capital inflows to the region.

As long as China manages to sidestep a serious economic slump, the region should ride out the coming storm with relative ease. China's economy will grow about 8% in 2011, easing from around 10% this year, according to the Standard Chartered forecasts.

"Global purchasing manager's indexes have peaked and will head lower in the second half," said Standard Chartered.

South Korea's won and Taiwan's dollar will be among those to lead Asian currencies higher against the U.S. dollar, starting from the fourth quarter, they said. The Malaysian ringgit, Indonesian rupiah and Singapore dollar were also seen as currencies that would benefit the most from a rising yuan.

The bank forecast that all major currencies in the region, apart from the Vietnamese dong, will be higher against the U.S. dollar by the fourth quarter of 2011, although the survey also excluded the Japanese yen, the New Zealand and Australian dollars and a few other units.

Chris Oliver is MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau chief.

Newscribe : get free news in real time

Educating Malaysia the right way

QUESTION TIME By P. GUNASEGARAM
p.guna@thestar.com.my

Improving education quality and making it relevant is needed, not cutting exams.

THAT assessment is largely examinations-based is a significant part of the problems of the education system, but right now that is not the major one because there are so many demands upon the education system, the Govern-ment needs to prioritise them.

But first, let’s deal with the proposal to abolish the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations, reportedly to make the system less exam-oriented and provide a more holistic education.

Will it? Most likely not, simply because the problem is not just these two examinations but the overall emphasis on academic results. There will still be examinations at the end of each term etc.

The bad effect of abolishing these exams is we will have no clue as to the standard of our students until they reach Form Five. By then it will be too late to take remedial steps to help the poorer students.

We need UPSR and PMR at least as a gauge to measure the standard of our students. But at the same time, we should look at other means to reduce the emphasis on exams by introducing year-long programmes which are project-based and will take into account extra-curricular activities.

The priority now has to be to improve the quality of education and here are 10 ways to do that.
Yes, many of these steps require time but a start has to be made now.

1. Better quality of teachers. This is simply the most important factor. It calls for the raising of both standards and incentives for teacher education and the continuous training of existing ones. Without this, nothing else will succeed.

2. Ensure a minimal standard of physical facilities for schools. While quality of teachers is most important, all schools must be provided with good basic physical facilities such as a playing field, hall, laboratories, classrooms and everything else that facilitates learning.

3. A syllabus that reflects holistic education. The syllabus itself must reflect the aims of holistic education by including subjects that cover living skills. We should look at greater emphasis on daily commerce – for example opening bank accounts, budgeting and investing.

4. Real emphasis on extra-curricular activities. Emphasis means teachers who are trained in these. Over the years there has been less emphasis on teachers specialising in sports, for instance.
It is necessary to produce teachers who specialise in sports and, within that, in some particular areas of sports.

5. Single-session schools. For proper emphasis on extra-curricular activities and stuff such as additional classes and time for homework, a longer, single-session school would be ideal.

This has been talked about for decades but nothing has happened to date.

6. Provisions for English Langua-ge education. With even science and maths not being taught in English anymore, there is a need to come up with more imaginative ways to ensure that the quality of English among our students improves.

We all know that English is important but we still do very little about it and allow the issue to be repeatedly politicised.

7. Provisions for mother tongue education. The national school system may see an increase in enrolment if adequate provisions are made and time allocated for pupils’ own language or POL classes.

This must not be merely for show and there should be enough hours and resources for a proper education in the mother tongue. A single-session school system will facilitate that.

8. Less politicisation and greater ‘professionalisation’ of education. The emotive issues such as language and culture should be taken out of education and a more accommodative and liberal spirit that takes into account the beliefs of all races and cultures should be part and parcel of the national school system.
Profess­ionals should essentially run education with policy agreed upon and set by the politicians.

9. Continuity of planning – 20-year plans will be good. The education system cannot be left to the whims and fancies of successive education ministers but should be guided by firm policy and a long-term rolling plan of 20 years.

Otherwise, key milestones targeted in earlier years will not be achieved as priorities are shifted elsewhere as new education ministers come in.

10. Keep up to date with education everywhere. Education methods and means are not static anywhere and they constantly change and evolve.

We have to make sure that we keep with the trends by getting people with both breadth and depth and put them in charge of the educational agencies.

Without a doubt, education is a pet peeve among all Malaysians.

The deterioration in quality over the years is terribly worrying and the time for doing something drastic and at the same time constructive is long past.

The rakyat will be eternally grateful to anyone who can put education right so that we start producing a new generation of really educated Malay-sians.
But the question remains as to who or what that will be.

> Managing editor P Gunasegaram started working life 33 years ago as a maths and science teacher in a Government school.