RSSeNEWS to be determined...

The National Statistician's annual publication of UK population and demographic data generated mixed - but fairly predictable - coverage in domestic and international media.

Youth unemployment

Under the headline Young Polish workers add to job fears the FT seized upon the increase in young east Europeans living in the UK, explicitly connecting it with unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds and the emergence of a so-called 'lost generation'.

The Express tok a slightly different tack with its headline One in 10 East European immigrants are children.

Focusing on its core readership, the Telegraph seized on the ONS forecast that 23 per cent of the UK population will be over 65 by 2033. It went on to highlight 'fears of an ageing time bomb', with a doubling in the number aged 85 or over in the next 25 years.

Born overseas

The Mail picked up on the statistic that one in 10 people living in Britain were born abroad. The Telegraph and the Press Trust of India carried the same story; the foreign-born element population has almost doubled over the past thirty years to 11 per cent.

The Telegraph linked this with more ONS data indicating that nearly one in four now born in England and Wales had foreign mothers and cited the increase east European migrant workers as a key contributor.

Still at home

ONS research showing that since 1988 living with parents has become less common among people in their early twenties gained far less attention. The ONS suggests the change may reflect in part the increase in access to higher education over the last twenty years. While more students are staying at their family home, the majority move away to study.

Conversely, more people in their mid-twenties and early thirties are still living with their parents; that tendency is higher among men than women.