As an illustration, using the population density of ultra-modern Singapore, the UK could house almost 2bn people. The UK isn’t full, it just feels that way.
The UK is full! It’s a common refrain from people concerned about immigration because that’s what ordinary peoples lived experience in the UK feels like, that we’re full. We can’t get a GP appointment for weeks at a time. We’re told about a housing crisis that never ends. The burden on the NHS is constant and overwhelming. Our schools are full and crumbling around our children. We can’t afford to fix anything because there’s no money and look how much we’re spending on hotel accommodation for ‘illegal immigrants!’
However, none of those problems are caused by over population, too many immigrants, too many refugees. None of them.
Average population density
UK Population (Estimated Mid-2022): 67,596,000
UK (Average population density, per square kilometre) 279
London (Ave. pop. density, sq. km) 5,640
Singapore (Ave. pop. density, sq. km) 8,058
Singapore (Highest pop. density, sq. km) 33,000+
Rough size of UK = Population / Pop Density, or 67,596,000 / 279 = 242,280 km2
Just looking at the geography of the UK, if you applied the average population density of London to the whole of the UK you could house a population of around 1.37bn. That’s roughly everyone in Europe (745m) and North America (615m).
If you applied the average population density of Singapore to the whole of the UK you could house a population of around 1.95bn. Roughly everyone in Europe (745m), North America (615m) and South America (435m).
If you applied the maximum population density of parts of Singapore to the UK you could house around 8bn. Almost the entire planet’s population.
Singapore is being used as a reference because it has a high population density and is ultra-modern.
I realise those numbers seem impossible, and I’m not advocating concreting over the country, but I do want to highlight, space is not a problem. The UK, in terms of geography, is in no way full.
It just feels that way.
