LONDON: UK is all set to overtake France by 2030 and Germany by 2047 to become Europe’s most populous country if current population trends continue.

Britain’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Thursday that UK’s population will increase by almost 10 million over the next 25 years.

The ONS has also predicted a major ageing of British society as more than one in 12 people will be aged 80 or over by 2039.

The number of people living in UK will increase from 64.6 million in mid-2014 to 74.3 million in 2039.

The estimates say almost 51% of this increase will be caused by foreigners settling in UK.

The UK population is projected to reach 70 million by mid-2027.

Over the next 10 years till 2024, the UK population is projected to increase by 4.4 million to 69 million.

ONS said “The population is projected to continue ageing with the average (median) age rising from 40 years in 2014 to 40.9 years in mid-2024 and 42.9 by mid-2039. By mid-2039 more than one in twelve of the population is projected to be aged 80 or over”.

The latest figures come after ONS recently revealed that 1 in every 3 children in UK was born to foreign mothers in 2014. A decade earlier, only one in six new mothers were born abroad.

Birth data released recently showed that India is the third commonest country of birth for non-UK born mothers between 2010 and 2014, after Poland and Pakistan.

Pakistan interestingly became the most common country of birth for non-UK born fathers between 2008 and 2014, followed by Poland and India.

Around 1.87 lakh children were born in UK in 2014 to mothers who weren’t themselves British. Of these, 13735 were to Indian mothers – 2% of all live births. Around 22,122 children were born to mothers of Polish origin while 17943 babes were born to Pakistani mothers.

The population was found to be growing by 1,150 a day.