§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his latest estimate of the net annual increase in the population of Great Britain over each of the next three decades.
§ Mr. AlisonOn the basis of the assumptions set out in the Registrar-General's Quarterly Return for England and Wales, No. 493 (Appendix F), the estimate of the annual population increase in Great Britain in the decades ending mid-1981, mid-1991 and mid-2001 are, respectively, 199,000, 240,000, 266,000. These increases represent annual growth rates of respectively 0.36, 0.42 and 0.46 per cent.