Demographics of the United Kingdom

The demographics of the United Kingdom have shown considerable change since the time of the initial creation of the United Kingdom in 1707. The population of the United Kingdom was estimated at 69.5 million in 2025. It is the 21st most populated country in the world and has a population density of 285 people per square kilometre (740 people/mi2), with England having significantly greater density than Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Almost a third of the population lives in south east England, which is predominantly urban and suburban, with 9,089,736 people in the capital city, London, whose population density was 5,782 inhabitants per square kilometre (14,980/sq mi) in 2024. The population of the UK has undergone demographic transition— from a typically pre-industrial population, with high birth and mortality rates and slow population growth, through a stage of falling mortality and faster rates of population growth, to a stage of low birth and mortality rates with, again, lower rates of growth. This growth through 'natural change' has been accompanied in the past three decades by growth through net immigration into the United Kingdom, which since 1999 has exceeded natural change. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate of 99% at age 15 and above, is attributable to universal state education, introduced at the primary level in 1870 (Scotland 1872, free 1890) and at the secondary level in 1900. Parents are obliged to have their children educated from the ages of 5 to 16 years.