UK population now over 61million

[rov1200]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8224520.stm

Has the population now reached crisis point? What do you think of the arguments being put forward by those opposed to such a high figure?

It is mainly the fault of the people living too long many into their 80's. The accompaning argument is that you need a young population to support them. But how will the youth of today support them when they have to pay high tuition fees and the cost of housing is mind blowing.?

If you believe the figure is sustainable where would you put the upper limit?

[jake-the-peg]

It doesn't matter what the population of the country is it's in your vicinity that counts.

Some parts are relatively overcrowded like the South East ( But even that's nothing compared to Paris)

But take a ride up through Lincolnshire and that area of the country and it gets lonely very fast.

It's not the number that's the question.

It's how do we get people to spread out a bit and stop all bunching together!

[jake-the-peg]

Oh and as you point out the age gap.

by 2050 there's projected to be only 3 people of working age for each retired person.

We need more qualified people in their 20s to come and settle here.

The new points system should reflect this better than it does.

[jno]

that's true, Newsdesk, and with all those farmers leaving the land as Tescos bankrupt them there is a lot of space for people to use, though they will have to pick their own turnips.

[trt]

Jake,

I live in the south east (Suffolk) its not overcrowded.

61 million, that's a joke, what about the thousands that are here illegally?

[Sqad]

Nothing to do with immigrants, it is teen aged pregnancies.

[ludwig]

"We need more qualified people in their 20s to come and settle here. "

Fine, but who's going to pay for them when it's their turn to retire? Are we just going to keep importing more and more taxpayers ad infinitum?

[rov1200]

One fact that was so little publicised in todays announcement was the % of children of mothers who were born about the UK.

It is now close to 25% of all births and rising each year.

It's hard to deny that a population of 70million will be hard to avoid.

[rov1200]

Dancairo I think that end of the spectrum is already being taken care of

""The Patients Association highlighted 16 cases in England where people, often the elderly, were left lying in faeces and urine and were not helped to eat""

[sp1814]

Time for the idea behind Logan's Run to be considered.

[anotheoldgit]

The number of people is not the problem, or even the amount of land.

The real problem is the infrastructure needed to support this growing population.

[rov1200]

Quite AOG. After reading about the large increase in births you can understand why the following is happening

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-120903 4/The-babies-born-hospital-corridors-Bed-short age-forces-4-000-mothers-birth-lifts-offices-h ospital-toilets.html