The number of people living in England has overtaken the population density of Holland, which has traditionally been the most densely-populated major nation on the continent.
The count, which has been attributed to higher levels of immigration, shows England now has 395 people per square kilometre.
The figures were obtained in a parliamentary answer from the Office of National Statistics.
In 2008 the average number of people per square kilometre in Britain was 253, rising to 395 in England.
Latest figures from Holland show that its population density was 395 a square kilometre in 2002 and 393 in 2005. It is estimated that English population density will rise to 464 people for every square kilometre by 2031.
The population density in England is already almost double the level in Germany and quadruple that in France.
...
Beyond Europe, England's population density is among the highest in the world for major countries. England ranks third in density after Bangladesh (1,045 per sq km) and South Korea (498 per sq km).
here
i must say Tea is OTM regarding the differences in population density between England
and the other parts of the UK.
i.e. a quick glance at a recent Wiki for a list of the most densely populated sovereign nations on earth puts the UK (i know the article is discussing Britain, but, heck, Northern Ireland is not very densely populated)
relatively low: around 50. but the figures would definitely change drastically when you break this down to the four main constituent British and Northern Irish parts.
purely on a demographic level, i find this fascinating.
after all, Scotland is nearly the same size as England yet has ten times less people or so.
Scotland is only {sic} about twice as densely populated as the States and Wales about five times; England more like ten times or so.
in fact, Bill Bryson once referenced England in something he wrote for American consumption about immigration to the USA, to make the same sort of point Tea makes above re density. (whether he should have is another matter, as - although i must stress his words were directed to Americans, hypothetical Americans Bryson wanted to reach, Americans who did not share Bryson's more humane approach on illegals - that cedes ground early to any passing virulently anti-immigration types who may not be American but living in a more densely populated country such as the Netherlands or the UK.
on the other hand, you have to have a hook, right.)
@P: the density debate feels like a massive thing in the UK - i'm sure the media bubble makes us feel it more than it truly is, as w' everything - so i can see why Tea feels the need to establish his bona-fides. after all, some people in the UK opposed to much immigration
are genuine bigots, or - at the very least - populist shitheads who would stir up trouble or wilfully misrepresent things etc for the sake of it.
clearly Tea is not one of those.
(though i am watching you Tea, given you work for the Shin Bet
)
again from the UK pov it is true that the UK gets a fair few immigrants (as distinct from, say, asylum seekers fleeing war; fleeing relative economic hardship in Moldova might not be quite as much of a bitch* as fleeing total failure of central govt writ-related carnage in the CAR, say, granted, but it's still a bitch) compared w' quite a few of her neighbours: for reasons to do with things like English being the global language, the perception of London as a world capital, the fact that London - along with places like Toronto, Paris, Sydney and New York - is an extremely ethnically diverse city, with many different Londoners of different heritages and different diasporic communities settled there, thus providing a cohesive support network for new arrivals that would be more lacking in, say, a - frankly - more whitebread European country like, oh idk, Austria. (although of course many European countries these days have cities that are ethnically enriched to the levels of say, the very multi-ethnic big cities of north America or Oceania, thanks to immigration.)
it's certainly not to do with our generous benefits, although we all know some of the press say otherwise
*
the white Anglo-Saxon straight male born into one of the largest and wealthiest economies on earth airily writes
