Mid-year Population Estimates

On 22 March 2018, revised population estimates for 2012-2016 were released by ONS and the following Nomis datasets updated:

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has made revisions to population estimates for England and Wales from mid-2012 to mid-2016. Estimates for England and for Wales remain unchanged; county, region and local authority population estimates for mid-2012 to mid-2016 have been revised. The revised components of the population estimates are:

  • local authority emigration estimates for mid-2012 to mid-2016 have been recalculated using an improved distribution model that includes a wider range of administrative and survey data than before
  • local authority-level immigration estimates for mid-2015 and mid-2016 have been recompiled using previously unavailable data and using improved matching methods to better distinguish students, workers and other international in-migrant
  • an improved method for accounting for the migration of dependants of foreign armed forces personnel has been incorporated; this results in improvements to the population estimates of Forest Heath and other local authorities containing, or neighbouring, US Air Force bases

Minor changes have also been made to ensure methods have been implemented consistently across years - specifically for mid-2012 and mid-2013 age distributions of asylum seekers and emigrants, and to the adjustment made between Coventry and Warwick student locations in mid-2014 and mid-2015.

What's not changed:

  • Scottish and Northern Irish estimates are unchanged
  • population totals for each single year of age and sex are unchanged for both England and Wales, only subnational estimates have changed
  • population estimates for the United Kingdom are unchanged

Further information regarding the revised population estimates can be found in the bulletin accompanying the official release; and the Methods guide.