The number of people living in England and Wales has soared by around four million in 10 years, driven by immigration, according to a survey.
The increase pushed up the population at its fastest rate during the past 100 years, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
Rapid growth outpaced even the baby boom of the 1950s and 1960s, the historic post-war period when record childbirth levels helped fuel long-term economic and social upheaval.
The scale of the population boom that has followed Labour’s decision to ease curbs on immigration after 1997 was revealed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in new estimates for England and Wales in the middle of last year.
“The population of England and Wales increased by approximately 20 million during the last 100 years and by approximately four million during the last decade,” the ONS said.
The figures showed the population rose by 3.8 million, or 7.3 percent, from 52.4 million in 2001 to 56,170,900 last year, according to the Mail.
“The increase in population between 2001 and 2011 was the largest in percentage terms in the last century,” it said.