Portsmouth’s population rises – but Fareham’s is one of just a handful of towns and cities in England to fall
London boroughs saw the biggest increases, though many places that typically attract a large number of students – such as Manchester, Salford and Newcastle – were close behind.
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Hide AdA handful of locations are estimated to have seen a drop in population over the same period, many of them rural or coastal areas such as North Norfolk, Hastings in East Sussex and Scarborough in North Yorkshire. But Fareham also recorded a very small drop.
The provisional figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and are based on a new method for calculating the population, meaning they cannot be compared with other measures such as the 2021 census.
The estimates, which are classed as experimental data, suggest the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets (up 4.8%), Westminster (3.5%) and Newham (3.0%) saw the largest increases in population between mid-2021 and mid-2022, followed by two more areas of the capital: Camden and Kensington & Chelsea (both up 2.8%).
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Hide AdOutside London, the biggest jumps were mostly in local authorities with major universities, such as Exeter and Manchester (both up 2.6%), Middlesbrough and Salford (2.5%) and Newcastle and Coventry (2.4%), though South Derbyshire saw a rise of 2.8%.
Portsmouth’s population rise from 206,684 to 207,702, a rise of 1,018 (0.49%0.
Elsewhere, Havant’s population rose by 0.25 per cent (from 124,472 to 124,784) and Gosport’s by 0.15 per cent (from 82,181 to 82,303).
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Hide AdIn Fareham, there was a 0.10 per cent decrease, from 114,993 down to 114,878.
Winchester recorded a 2.16 per cent increase (up to 130,663, Southampton a 1.85 per cent increase (up to 251,705) and Chichester a 0.50 per cent rise (up to 124,619).
Fareham was one of 15 areas estimated to have seen a fall in population in the year to June 2022, with South Staffordshire having the largest drop (down 0.9%), followed by Lincoln and Ipswich (both down 0.4%).
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Hide AdThe total population for England and Wales is estimated to have passed 60 million for the first time, rising from 59.6 million in mid-2021 to 60.2 million in mid-2022.
Jen Woolford, ONS director of population statistics, said: ‘These estimates give a timely indicator of population change.
‘They show that the population of England and Wales has increased by 1.0% between 2021 and 2022.
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Hide Ad‘The largest growth has been seen in some London authorities, which is in line with our expectations as people returned to cities following the pandemic.’
The outbreak of Covid-19 in spring 2020 led many universities and colleges to switch from in-person tuition to online lectures and seminars, a pattern that continued in 2021 and which led students to do some or all of their studies back home.
Lockdown restrictions and rules on social mixing are also likely to have encouraged residents of towns and cities to relocate temporarily and stay with family and friends in less crowded areas.
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Hide AdA total of 21 local authorities in England and Wales are estimated to have seen their population increase by at least 2% in the year to June 2022, with a further 26 between 1.5% and 2%.
The City of London and Isles of Scilly have been excluded from the figures due to their very small population size.
Official estimates of the mid-2022 population will be published in September, along with updated estimates for previous years.
Provisional figures for mid-2023 will be published at the end of this year.