Demographics of England

The demographics of England have been measured by the decennial national census since 1801, and are marked by centuries of population growth and urbanization. Due to the lack of authoritative contemporary sources, estimates of the population of England for dates prior to the first census in 1801 vary considerably. The population of England at the 2021 census was about 56,489,800.

Population

The population of England in 2021 was estimated to be 56,489,800. This is the most recent census. In the previous census, in 2011, the population was 53,012,456.

Data for the 2021 census: Female: 28,833,712 Male: 27,656,336 Total population: 56,489,800 Total Fertility Rate: 1.61 (2021)

Historical population

Domesday population Russell (1948) states that the fundamental demographic categories of the Domesday Survey in 1086 were broadly similar to that of the Poll Tax Survey of 1377. These were:

Landowners (agriculturalists) Burgesses Clergy

There was a recorded 740 monks, 200 nuns and 4500 secular clergy in 1086. The counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire all had different boundaries to their modern namesakes and had uncharacteristically low populations due to the Harrying of the North. +Estimated Population of Domesday CountiesCountyLanded groupBurghal groupTotalBedfordshire13,56242013,982Berkshire22,0822,55824,640Buckinghamshire18,87956019,439Cambridgeshire18,0981,96020,058Cornwall19,03319,033Derbyshire9,98249010,472Devon60,0952,56262,657Dorset26,7363,15229,888Essex53,9912,08256,073Gloucestershire28,7495,13833,877Hampshire35,3127,03242,344Herefordshire18,5431,99120,534Hertfordshire14,3881,55815,946Huntingdonshire8,9981,31610,314Kent40,3488,23848,586Leicestershire23,3201,27824,598Lincolnshire83,3846,95790,341Middlesex7,83317,85025,683Norfolk87,4378,00195,438Northamptonshire29,0081,03230,040Nottinghamshire19,0401,19020,230Oxfordshire23,7061,43125,137Rutland2,9922,992Shropshire17,056-92217,978Somerset46,4733,81150,284Staffordshire10,87474611,620Suffolk68,8704,24873,118Surrey14,7281,19715,925Sussex35,4907,13342,623Warwickshire22,6311,28423,915Wiltshire34,4896,41640,905Worcestershire15,4491,55016,999Cheshire4,0382,1426,180Cumberland5,9715,971Durham3,9831,0004,983Lancashire7,3857,385Northumberland7,9277,927Westmorland3,0983,098Yorkshire23,8274,72628,553Total987,805111,9711,099,766 Russell (1948) therefore calculates a total English population in 1086 as 1,105,216 including burgesses, landowners and clergy. To this he adds estimates of Wales (100,000), Ireland (400,000) and Scotland (120,000) for a total British Isles population of roughly 1,720,000.

Vital statistics

This is UK wide information.

Average population Live birthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate (per 1000)Crude death rate (per 1000)Natural change (per 1000)Fertility rates 1929 599,078 1930 604,870 1931 589,751 1932 573,099 1933 540,989 1934 557,686 1935 559,569 1936 567,383 1937 573,382 1938 583,579 1939 581,950 1940 567,710 545,952 21,758 14.1 13.6 0.5 1941(c) 539,205 499,343 39,862 13.9 12.9 1.0 1942 608,373 448,777 159,596 15.6 11.5 4.1 1943 641,064 469,916 171,148 16.2 11.9 4.3 1944 704,748 461,189 243,559 17.7 11.6 6.1 1945 638,422 456,216 182,206 15.9 11.4 4.5 1946 773,153 460,543 312,610 19.2 11.4 7.8 1947 829,863 484,324 345,539 20.5 12.0 8.5 1948 728,131 439,803 288,328 17.9 10.8 7.1 1949 686,181 478,627 207,554 16.8 11.7 5.1 1950 654,321 477,006 177,315 15.5 11.3 4.2 1951(c) 41,164,356 636,259 513,375 122,884 15.5 12.5 3.0 1952 632,347 466,479 165,858 15.3 11.3 4.0 1953 642,844 472,137 170,707 15.5 11.3 4.2 1954 633,395 469,074 164,321 15.2 11.3 3.9 1955 628,935 484,926 144,009 15.0 11.7 3.3 1956 659,420 488,893 170,527 15.7 11.7 4.0 1957 681,736 482,174 199,562 16.1 11.5 4.6 1958 698,255 494,201 204,054 16.4 11.7 4.7 1959 706,239 495,517 210,722 16.5 11.6 4.9 1960 740,858 493,553 247,305 17.1 11.5 5.6 1961(c) 43,460,525 766,358 518,047 248,311 17.6 11.9 5.7 1962 793,354 523,855 269,499 18.0 12.0 6.0 1963 807,017 538,105 268,912 18.2 12.2 6.0 1964 828,470 501,991 326,479 18.5 11.3 7.2 1965 816,433 516,317 300,116 18.1 11.5 6.6 1966 804,957 528,981 275,976 17.7 11.8 5.9 1967 788,458 509,356 279,102 17.2 11.2 6.0 1968 775,065 541,862 233,203 16.9 11.9 5.0 1969 754,456 543,425 211,031 16.4 11.9 4.5 1970 741,999 540,196 201,803 16.0 11.6 4.4 1971(c) 46,411,700 740,099 532,445 207,654 15.9 11.5 4.4 1972 46,572,000 685,485 554,251 131,234 14.7 11.9 2.8 1973 46,686,000 638,356 549,876 88,480 13.7 11.8 1.9 1974 46,682,000 603,153 547,980 55,173 12.9 11.7 1.2 1975 46,674,000 568,900 545,444 23,456 12.2 11.7 0.5 1976 46,659,000 550,383 560,317 −9,934 11.8 12.0 −0.2 1977 46,639,000 536,953 538,652 −1,699 11.5 11.5 −0.0 1978 46,638,000 562,589 547,685 14,904 12.1 11.7 0.4 1979 46,698,000 601,316 554,840 46,476 12.9 11.9 1.0 1980 46,787,000 618,371 544,349 74,022 13.2 11.6 1.6 1981(c) 46,820,800 598,163 541,018 57,145 12.8 11.6 1.2 1982 46,777,000 589,711 544,984 44,727 12.6 11.7 0.9 1.76 1983 46,813,000 593,255 542,509 50,746 12.7 11.6 1.1 1.75 1984 46,912,000 600,573 531,314 69,259 12.8 11.3 1.5 1.75 1985 47,057,000 619,301 553,153 66,148 13.2 11.8 1.4 1.78 1986 47,187,000 623,609 544,545 79,064 13.2 11.5 1.7 1.76 1987 47,300,000 643,330 531,150 112,180 13.6 11.2 2.4 1.80 1988 47,412,000 654,353 535,553 118,800 13.8 11.3 2.5 1.82 1989 47,552,000 649,357 539,804 109,553 13.7 11.4 2.3 1.79 1990 47,699,000 666,920 528,920 138,000 14.0 11.1 3.9 1.83 1991(c) 47,875,000 660,806 533,980 126,826 13.8 11.2 2.6 1.81 1992 47,998,000 651,784 522,660 129,124 13.6 10.9 2.7 1.79 1993 48,102,000 636,473 540,904 95,569 13.2 11.2 2.0 1.76 1994 48,228,000 628,956 516,297 112,659 13.0 10.7 2.3 1.75 1995 48,383,000 613,257 529,038 84,219 12.7 10.9 1.8 1.71 1996 48,519,000 614,184 526,650 87,534 12.7 10.9 1.8 1.73 1997 48,664,000 608,202 521,598 86,604 12.5 10.7 1.8 1.73 1998 48,820,000 602,111 518,089 84,022 12.3 10.6 1.7 1.72 1999 49,032,000 589,468 517,119 72,349 12.0 10.5 1.5 1.69 2000 49,233,000 572,826 503,026 69,800 11.6 10.2 1.4 1.65 2001(c) 49,449,000 563,744 497,878 65,866 11.4 10.1 1.3 1.63 2002 49,679,000 565,709 500,792 64,917 11.4 10.1 1.3 1.64 2003 49,925,000 589,851 504,127 85,724 11.8 10.1 1.7 1.72 2004 50,194,000 607,184 480,717 126,467 12.1 9.6 2.5 1.77 2005 50,606,000 613,028 479,678 133,350 12.1 9.5 2.6 1.77 2006 50,965,000 635,748 470,326 165,422 12.5 9.2 3.3 1.83 2007 51,381,000 655,357 470,721 184,636 12.8 9.2 3.6 1.88 2008 51,815,000 672,809 475,763 197,046 13.0 9.2 3.8 1.92 2009 52,196,000 671,058 459,241 211,817 12.9 8.8 4.1 1.91 2010 52,642,000 687,007 461,017 225,990 13.1 8.8 4.3 1.94 2011(c) 53,107,000 688,120 452,862 235,258 13.0 8.5 4.5 1.93 2012 53,493,000 694,241 466,779 227,462 13.0 8.7 4.3 1.94 2013 53,865,000 664,517 473,552 190,965 12.3 8.8 3.5 1.85 2014 54,316,000 661,496 468,875 192,621 12.2 8.6 3.6 1.83 2015 54,786,000 664,399 495,309 169,090 12.1 9.0 3.1 1.82 2016 55,268,000 663,157 490,454 172,703 12.0 8.9 3.1 1.81 2017 55,619,000 646,794 498,882 147,912 11.6 9.0 2.6 1.76 2018 55,977,000 625,651 505,859 119,792 11.2 9.0 2.2 1.70 2019 56,287,000 610,505 488,952 121,553 10.8 8.7 2.1 1.66 2020 56,550,000 585,195 569,700 15,495 10.3 10.1 0.3 1.59 2021(c) 56,489,800 595,948 549,207 46,741 10.5 9.7 0.8 1.56 2022 57,106,398 577,046 540,333 36,713 10.2 9.5 0.7 1.49 2023 57,910,000 563,561 544,032 19,529 9.8 9.4 0.4 1.44 2024 58,607,200 567,708 531,953 35,755 9.7 9.1 0.61.42 2025 58,834,800 558,988 534,020 24,968 9.5 9.1 0.41.39 (c) = Census results.

In 2025, 35.5% of live births were to mothers born outside the UK and for 41.1% of live births, one or both parents were born outside of the UK.

Current vital statistics

+ Period Live births Deaths Natural increase January—March 2025 135,559 149,813 –14,254 January—March 2026 135,283 145,126 –9,843 Difference −276 (−0.2%) –4,687 (–3.1%) +4,411Source:

Population distributions by age band, 20th century

This shows a trend of an ageing population with increasing expectation of life and falling fertility rates. +Age distribution by census yearAge band19011931195119610–1432%24%22%23%15–6463%69%67%65%65 years and over5%7%11%12%Total100%100%100%100%

Country of birth Country of birth given by respondents in the corresponding UK censuses were as follows: