UN report warns the UK’s population is shrinking and ageing
July 11th 2024
The UN today reports an unsustainable growth in global population numbers – but adds that the UK is bucking the trend with a population, excluding immigration, that is both shrinking and ageing.
An ageing population needs a growing workforce to fund pensions and pay taxes to fund increased spending on social care and NHS services needed for the elderly. However, a declining population will see a perilous decrease in tax revenue in the UK.
One answer to the UK’s ageing challenge is more immigration of working-age people. Boosting the UK workforce by welcoming immigrants has the added advantage of not increasing the global population, which is critical to solve the environmental crises the world is facing today.
Chief Executive of Population Matters, Amy Jankiewicz says, “If it weren’t for net migration to the UK, the UK’s low birth rate would have meant the population would have already begun to shrink. In this context, the UK is benefiting from immigration of working-age people. They are supporting our ageing population. At the same time, immigration does not increase global human population numbers.”
The UN World Population Prospects 2024 released today to mark World Population Day predicts that the global population will hit 10 billion by 2061, peaking at over 10.3 billion by the mid-2080’s.
The report identifies immigration as the main driver of population growth in 52 countries, including the UK, through to the second half of the century.
Ms Jankiewicz added: “Ending human population growth is a priority. Those who call for continued population and economic growth are blind to a world already stretched beyond its limits. Our current global population is consuming the equivalent resources of 1.7 earths. We are chopping down rainforests, digging up coal and pumping oil to meet humanity’s unsustainable demand due to overconsumption in rich countries and continued global population growth.”
“This is super-charging climate change. Globally we must end our feeding frenzy by cutting overconsumption and ending human population growth. In the UK, and in rich countries generally, we must welcome immigrants in order to balance the books.”
Ms Jankiewicz’s comments come in the face of a growing push by some – including Elon Musk – for people to have more, not fewer children.
“The world is on track to peak at over 10 billion people by the end of the century, population decline is a myth,” Ms Jankiewicz said. “The planet’s resources are already overstretched, we cannot afford an additional 2 billion people.”
The pro-population growth movement, known as ‘pronatalism’ is taking root in the UK.
“Women should not be pressured to breed for Britain as if it’s their patriotic duty to shape the demographics of this country,” said Ms Jankiewicz. “A lower birth rate in the UK is reflective of an educated and independent female population, where a woman can choose her own path, whether that includes motherhood or not.”
The UN World Population Prospects can be found here.
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Contact:
Dominic Nutt, Head of Campaigns and Communications, Population Matters
Email: dominic.nutt@populationmatters.org
Tel: 07720467680
Notes to editors
- 2024 Revision of World Population Prospects, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
The global population is projected to peak at 10.3 billion.
https://population.un.org/wpp// - Immigration is the main driver of population growth in the United Kingdom.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/populationandmigration/2021basedinterim#main-points - Global Footprint Network, Earth Overshoot Calculation.
Our current population is consuming the equivalent resources of 1.7 earths.
https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/how-many-earths-or-countries-do-we-need/ - Despite the recent increases in state pension age, it is expected that the pensioner population will continue to rise. In 2014 there were 3.2 people of working age for every person of pensionable age. This ratio is projected to fall to 2.7 by 2037.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/key-issues-parliament-2015/social-change/ageing-population/ - “Elon Musk thinks the population will collapse.” CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/30/health/elon-musk-population-collapse-wellness/index.html - Pronatalism in the UK: Should we be worried? Population Matters
https://populationmatters.org/news/2023/05/pronatalism-in-the-uk/
Population Matters is a UK-based charity working globally to achieve a sustainable future for people and planet. Our mission is to drive positive, large-scale action through fostering choices that help achieve a sustainable human population and regenerate our environment.
UK charity number: 1114109