The population of the UK. Components of National population change.

The population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is over 57 million people. The population lives mostly in towns and cities. The distribution of the population is quite uneven.

Over 46 million people live in England, over 3 million in Wales, a little over 5 million in Scotland and about 1.5 million in Northern Ireland.

The most densely populated areas are Greater London, the South and the Southwest. Only London's population is over 7 million.

The United Kingdom is inhabited by the English, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Irish who constitute the British nation. The British are the descendants of different peoples who settled in the British Isles at different times.

The earliest known people of Britain were of Iberian origin.

Then followed a long succession of invaders, including the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Danes and at last in 1066, the Normans.

It was the last time Britain was invaded.

Nowadays one can see people of many colours and races in the United Kingdom.

They are mostly inhabitants from the former British colonies.

The official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is English. Besides standard literary English there are several regional and social dialects.

Demographers use several standard ways to measure population processes. Birth rates and death rates and migration are the 3 most important measures. A birthrate (also called a crude birth rate) is the number of births in a given place and year per 1,000 population. Similarly, the death rate (also called a crude death rate) is the number of deaths in a given place and year per 1,000 population.
In a population with no emigration, the population growth rate is simply the birthrate minus the death rate divided by 10. By convention, population growth rates are expressed in percent (that is, per hundred people) rather than per thousand people.

From the 18^th c until well into the 19^th c, Britain’s population soared as the death rate dropped and the birth rate remained high. During the period the total population increased from approximately 6 million in the 1760s to 26 million in the 1870s. Toward the end of the 19^th c and into the 20^th c the birth rate stabilized and the death rate remained law.

Family size decreased and the median age of the population rose. Compared to the rest of the world, the UK has the smaller percentage of the younger people and the higher percentage of the older people, with 20.5% over the age over 60; those under the age 15 years make up only 19.5% of the population. Life expectancy in 2004 was 76 years for men and 81 years for women.

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