WYCHAVON’S population grew by 1.3 per cent – more than three times the national average – despite a rise in deaths and drop in births.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows the UK’s population growth for the year up to June 2020 is 0.4 per cent, the lowest for two decades, with excess deaths caused by Covid cited.

A total of 67.1 million people are likely to have been living in the UK in the middle of last year, up from an estimated 66.8 million in mid-2019.

The year-on-year rise of around 284,000 is the smallest since the 12 months to mid-2001.

The figures show the year to mid-2020 saw the highest number of deaths in the UK since the year to mid-1986

The first wave of Covid-19 accounted for more than 55,000 deaths.

Locally, the city of Worcester suffered a drop in population over the past two years with that proportion growing from 0.7 to 0.9 per cent in the latest data.

And while the proportion of growth on Wychavon’s patch, which includes Evesham, Pershore and Droitwich, dropped there was still a significant rise which the data suggests is down to British people moving to the area.

Internal migration accounts for adding 0.2 per cent to the region’s population, estimated to be more than 127,000 in 2018, compared to a 1.3 per cent drop in Worcester.

That is despite a decrease of 11.5 per cent fewer people moving across council borders in the year to June 2020 compared to the previous year but the trend is similar in and around Birmingham, Cheltenham, Derby and Leicester.

Scott Richardson-Brown, chief executive of estate agents Andrew Grant, said the movement he has seen in the property market marries up with the data.

“Price growth has been strong nationally and across the region, five to 10 per cent is not unusual, but we have seen people moving more towards rural properties,” he said.

“Covid has demonstrated that people want a quality of life that they haven’t been able to get in town centres or flats so there has been a lot of money heading towards that idyllic, rural dream, particularly money coming from the south east.

“I would imagine people locally are looking to have that outside space for the same reason, they don’t need to be as accessible to places of work as they used to and maybe they see that as a long-term change.

“We have already seen price pressure on flats in cities because they are less desirable than they were 18 months ago.”