A new study has cast doubt on the government’s official immigration figures, claiming that a higher than previously thought 84 percent of population growth this century so far has been caused by migration, and that figure could rise to 100 percent in 25 years.
The remarkable figures come from Sir Andrew Green’s respected think-tank MigrationWatch UK, who have crunched the latest data and have presented a report which suggests the way population and fertility figures are presented by the government is misleading. The report points out that while official figures place population growth due to migration at an already high 57 percent, this “understates the demographic power of migration”, and that many of the children being born to this country are to immigrant parents.
Once this is factored in, the figure rises to 84 percent – meaning only a small fraction of population growth in the UK is down to long settled families. Indeed, the findings explain the unprecedented population explosion this century which has come despite a plummeting fertility rate for British families, as women put off having children for professional reasons.
Remarkably the 4.6 million growth this century from 2001 to 2012 is higher than the 4.5 million population increase Britain experienced from 1965 to 2000, making Britain the fastest growing country in Europe. The population is expected to grow another ten million in the next twenty years.
Even if the government hit its target promise of reducing net migration, something the Home Secretary conceded was not seriously going to happen at the weekend this still wouldn’t reverse the enormous demographic changes in Britain, according to Sir Andrew. He said: “The reality is that even if net migration is brought down to 165,000 a year, we will, in the next 25 years, have to build the equivalent of ten cities the size of Birmingham — amounting to almost twice the population of Scotland.
“This would place enormous stress on our already creaking infrastructure and on our environment. and it would also change the nature of British society for ever”. It is thought net migration is presently running close to quarter of a million a year.
The report claimed that the fertility rate is now so low for British families, now well below the 2.1 children per couple required for a stable population, that by 2041 the number of settled Brits will be in steady decline, and a remarkable 100 percent of all population growth in the UK, will be from migrants and their children.
Noting the demographic changes that have occurred since the opening of borders that occurred under the last government, James Brokenshire, the immigration and security minister defended the present government’s record. Although there has been no control of European migration, he pointed to the reduction of migrants from the rest of the world, including from places such as Australia and Canada, where the majority of residents are the descendants of British settlers.
The Times reported the ministers words: “Uncontrolled, mass immigration of the kind we saw under the last government makes it difficult to maintain social cohesion, puts pressure on public services and forces down wages. That’s why our focus remains on controlling migration at sustainable levels.
“Our reforms have led to net migration from outside the EU falling to levels not seen since the 1990s”.
The United Kingdom isn’t the only country grappling with the demographic change caused by the native population having less children during an era of unprecedented migration. Although the population of Denmark is growing steadily, the Danish government has acknowledged this is down to migration, and have expressed concern that native Danes are having less children than ever.
The nation’s wildly successful sex education programme, which teaches abstinence and safe sex has been blamed, as has mothers putting off childbirth for careers. In Denmark, one in five couples will have no children at all, as they opt for a professional lifestyle instead.
Breitbart London reported last month on a new sex-ed programme will teach children that waiting until the age of 30 to begin a family is too late, because at that point “half of our reproduction capabilities have disappeared”.