60,000 is added to the population as the Census is revised

The Office for National Statistics released the new figure of 52,357,300 after revising information collated in the 2001 Census.

Work was conducted in 15 council areas where the number of people who returned census forms was considered too low.

Despite the revision, ONS executive director John Pullinger said the census had still performed a good job.

He said: "Our increasingly complex and fast changing society presents major challenges to measuring population change.

"These studies reinforce earlier findings that the 2001 Census did very well to measure the population in all but the most exceptional circumstances.

Insight

"The analysis has been carried out by ONS with assistance from local authorities and input from leading experts in this field.

"It has given us further insight into specific problems in different areas of the country and characteristics that make population estimation difficult.

"This knowledge will be taken forward and fed into the planning and development of the 2011 Census."

The 15 areas that underwent revision were Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Hartlepool, Kingston upon Hull, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland, Wirral, and the London boroughs of Southwark, Wandsworth and Westminster.

Factors such as there being a transient population are thought to have contributed to these areas producing low figures three years ago.

Estimates of how many people live in each local authority area are due to be published by the ONS on 9 September.