Population review. Structure and distribution of the population

This article is the first in a series of articles reviewing the changing composition of the population of the United Kingdom. The series is a follow-up to the demographic reviews published in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s (see In Brief, page 2). This first article gives a summary view of the changes since the early Seventies in the structure and distribution of the UK population, and also takes account of population projections for future years. It begins by describing changes in the total population. The review then goes on to consider changes in sex ratios, age distribution, marital status, the regional distribution of the UK resident population, population density, ethnicity and household composition.