The resident population of UK in mid-2008 is estimated to have been 61,383,000, up 408,000 on 2007 and 2m on mid-2001. The main contributor to the growth was 'natural change' in the difference between births and deaths. It is the first time in nearly 10 years that it has overtaken net migration as the main contributor.
The higher life expectancy of females is reflected in the fact that older females outnumber older males. The 'baby boomers', now aged between 39-48, are still 'bulging'. The low fertility of the 1970s is reflected in a narrowing of the population pyramid for ages between 31 and 38 and the pyramid also narrows between ages of 7 and 20 due to the low fertility of the late 1980s to early 2000s. From 2003 onwards the base has broadened because of an increasing number of births. The population continues to age. The over 85s reached a record 1.3m or 2% of the population in mid-2008 (422,000 men and 914,000 women). There were more pensioners than under-16s, 11.5m compared to 11.8m.
There are two main theories of population growth, the classical and the modern. Classical theory, the 'dismal science', emphasises real wage rates and the subsistence wage level, modern theory emphasises the improvements in health, hygiene and medicine that have enables people to overcome diseases and live longer and healthier lives. Population growth brings an increase in the demand for capital but is independent of economic growth and can still be very useful in economic model building. The Labour Force Survey and the Workforce-in Employment survey both use population data in comparing the UK with other EU and OECD countries and in calculating the unemployment rate, the participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio. The classical theorists are invalidated to some extent by the inverse relation of real income growth and population growth. Demand of all kinds depends on the size and age structure of the population.
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