How is society changing?
69.5m people live in the UK, 64.8% of 16-year-olds in England passed GCSE English and maths at grade 4 or above, 4.33 million crimes were experienced in England and Wales, and £305bn was spent on benefits and the state pension.
The detail
Each page has the figures, the trend, a table and the questions people ask.
Population, migration, asylum and life expectancy.
See people →GCSEs, primary results, absence and class sizes.
See education →Crime, fraud, prisons and homicides.
See crime →Spending and who claims.
See benefits →Households that asked councils for help.
See homelessness →In numbers
Each measure’s recent trend (up to ten years), with the latest figure.
| Measure | Recent trend | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| UK population 2025 | 69.5m | |
| GCSE English and maths at grade 4 or above 2024-25 | 64.8% | |
| Crime reported to the Crime Survey, excluding fraud 2025-26 | 4.33 | |
| Spending on benefits as a share of the economy 2024-25 | 9.9% |
At a glance
What’s this?
The estimated number of people living in the UK in the middle of the year (30 June).
What it cannot tell you: It counts usual residents, so it can differ from other counts, and estimates are revised when new data arrive.
What’s this?
The share of 16-year-olds in England who got at least a grade 4 (a standard pass) in both English and maths.
What it cannot tell you: Grades in 2020 to 2022 were awarded differently because exams were cancelled or changed, so the series is not a clean trend.
What’s this?
The number of crimes people say they experienced, from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, leaving out fraud and computer misuse so it can be compared back to 1981.
What it cannot tell you: It counts crimes people remember and report to interviewers, so it misses crimes against children under 10, people not living in households and crimes with no clear victim. There was no survey for the years ending March 2021 and 2022 because of the pandemic, so those years are blank.
What’s this?
Spending on benefits and the state pension as a share of everything the UK economy produces (GDP).
What it cannot tell you: Spending depends on the number of claimants and the rates paid, and the state pension is a large share because the population is ageing. It is not a measure of living standards for claimants.
Questions people ask
Why is some of the data only for England?
Education, health and many other services are devolved, so the UK government's figures often cover England only. Each page says what area it covers.
Sources: ONS, Department for Education, Home Office, Ministry of Justice, DWP. Updated every night. Each chart has a CSV and a Share button.
See also: Health · Government money · Everything over time