People in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin helped the UK population increase by a record number last year to top 61 million for the first time.

The latest population estimate for Shropshire County, which was taken in mid-2008, was put at 292,800 – which is up from 290,900 in 2007. Between 2001 and 2007 the county’s population grew by 7,600 or 2.7 per cent. From 283,300 in 2001 to 290,900 in 2007.

The Office for National Statistics says the increase in the UK’s population was driven by a baby boom as fertility rates shot up to their highest rates in a generation.

There were 408,000 more people living here in 2008, it said. That takes the total population to 61.4 million – an increase of more than two million over 2001.

The increase is the highest since modern records began in 1972 and more than twice the increase of 2001 when the population rose by 201,000.

Statisticians are now trawling through historical records to confirm it is the biggest population increase in history.

For the first time in nearly a decade natural changes to the population caused by shifts in birth and death rates have overtaken immigration as the biggest factor affecting population growth.

The vast wave of immigrants who came here from eastern Europe after the European Union expanded in 2004 slowed to a trickle, as the recession took hold, the figures showed.

Councillor Sean Kelly, cabinet member for policy, performance and partnerships at Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “The Office for National Statistics says that the population of Telford & Wrekin has risen by 3,500 people between the years 2001 and 2008 from 158,600 to 162,100.

“However, Telford & Wrekin Council has historically contended that the population of the borough is higher than has been represented by the Office for National Statistics.

“There is evidence that the number of births is rising. However, we believe there has been greater migration into the borough than the Office for National Statistics claims.

“Telford & Wrekin Council research shows that our population has actually risen by a figure of around 8,500 from 2001 to 2008 and the actual population is now 167,100 people.”