The number of people migrating to the UK each year will be 45,000 more than previously predicted, according to official estimates, cited by BBC.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) had estimated the net increase in population due to migration would be 145,000 a year.

But it has revised that upwards by about a third to 190,000 migrants annually over the next 20 years.

The ONS also predicts life expectancy will rise further than anticipated.

"The result is that 86% of our population increase will now be due to immigration, which will add 7.2 million to our population between 2004 and 2031," says Andrew Green, chair of Migrationwatch UK.

The ONS said the amended estimate was partly due to factoring in record net immigration in 2004 and 2005, mainly from eastern Europe.

"Migration is bringing new wealth but also new worries to Britain. That means we need to drive through radical action now to make sure our borders policy is fit for the future," Immigration Minister Liam Byrne commented the report.

"Frankly, it underlines the need for swift and sweeping changes to the immigration system in the next 12 months.

Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the European Union on January 1, 2007, have consistently downplayed fears within the UK that their countries' admission into the bloc will be followed by an exodus of jobseekers.

The British government approved in October 2006 measures to curb immigration to the UK from Romania and Bulgaria after their accesstion to the EU, making food processing and agriculture the only sectors initially opened to "less skilled" nationals from the two countries.

According to British media reports Home Office officials do not believe the doors should be opened to the two eastern European countries and will recommend that current EU restrictions should continue for at least another year.

A new points-based system for immigration is to be introduced in April, and the Home Office wants this to bed down before making a decision to open the doors to Romanian and Bulgarian workers, as Britain must do by 2012 at the latest.

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