Mid-Year Population Estimates for Leicester

Mid-year population estimates are produced annually by the government agency, National Statistics. Figures are available for local authorities and health authorities in England and Wales. For a particular mid-year they become available around 14 months after the reference date.

In producing these figures, National Statistics use registration data on births and deaths as well as estimates of migration using data from the Health Service. The Mid-Year Estimates include students at their term time address.

In 2010, revised figures were published for the period 2002 to 2008 as a result of the Migration Statistics Improvement Programme. This was set up because of increasing concerns about the numbers of immigrants coming into the UK and the fact they were not being counted in the annual population estimates. Within the EU, the motivation for migration was the driven by EU expansion to include Poland, the Baltic states and other Eastern Europe countries. This gave these countries’ residents the right to work anywhere in the EU and as a result many came to the UK.

Worldwide migration was triggered by more conventional reasons such as war, persecution, lack of jobs, etc.

As a consequence of this, the Improvement Programme introduced changes to the way both international migrants and students were counted. Further details can be found on the National Statistics web page: Improvements to the mid-2008 population estimates.

The previous revision was in 2004 when the data was adjusted to take into account the results of the 2001 Census.

§ = data from an earlier revision of population estimates