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Northern Ireland saw its population grow by an estimated 0.64% from mid-2018 to mid-2019, according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\nNorthern Ireland saw its population grow by an estimated 0.64% from mid-2018 to mid-2019, according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n
The estimated population of the UK has hit 66.8 million after growing at the slowest rate for 15 years, the official figures show.<\/p>\n
According to the figures released on Wednesday, there was an estimated 66,796,807 people living in the UK at the end of June last year.<\/p>\n
The population growth rate over the 12 months to the middle of 2019 was 0.5%, the slowest since mid-2004, the ONS said.<\/p>\n
It said decreasing numbers of births and net international migration has contributed to the growth rate figure.<\/p>\n
The figures reveal that England saw an estimated growth of 0.55%, followed by Scotland (0.46%) and Wales (0.45%).<\/p>\n
It is the first time since the year to mid-2009 that Northern Ireland had a faster rate of growth than the nation in Britain.<\/p>\n
The ONS said one of the main factors behind the faster population growth in Northern Ireland was the comparatively high level of natural change that was driven by a younger population (a median age of 38.9 years, compared with 40.3 years across the UK).<\/p>\n
This has led to a higher number of births and a lower number of deaths.<\/p>\n
By contrast, in both Wales and Scotland there were a higher number of deaths than births.<\/p>\n