The potential future direction of local population change: the power of variant projections 
The Office for National Statistics produces subnational population projections (SNPPs) to give users an indication of the potential future population size of English local authorities and health geographies. Today weâve released our 2022-based SNPPs which will be widely used in planning, for example, health, education and housing. We donât know exactly what will happen in a local area in 10- or 20-yearsâ time, so offer a range of scenarios, or variants, so decision makers can use the right projection for their needs. In todayâs bulletin, we focus on the âmigration category variantâ. James Robards explains what this is and why weâre using this approach. | 
