Estimates for UK immigration, emigration and net migration, year ending June 2012 to year ending December 2024. These are official statistics in development. To access the most up-to-date data for each time period, please use the most recently published dataset.

Immigration levels in the UK were seen as being too high in the last ten years, by approximately 70 percent of Britons in July 2025, compared with 66 percent a year earlier.

Different migration-related data sources at local authority level including migration flows, non-UK-born and non-British populations, National Insurance number registrations, GP registrations, and births to non-UK-born mothers.

In 2024, approximately 948,000 million people migrated to the United Kingdom, while 517,000 people migrated from the UK, resulting in a net migration figure of 431,000. There have consistently been more people migrating to the United Kingdom than leaving it since 1993 when the net migration figure was negative 1,000. Although migration from the European Union has declined since the Brexit vote of 2016, migration from non-EU countries accelerated rapidly from 2021 onwards. In the year to June 2023, 968,000 people from non-EU countries migrated to the UK, compared with 129,000 from EU member states. Immigration and the 2024 election Since late 2022, immigration, along with the economy and healthcare, has consistently been seen by UK voters as one of the top issues facing the country. Despite a pledge to deter irregular migration via small boats, and controversial plans to send asylum applicants to Rwanda while their claims are being processed, Rishi Sunak's Conservative government lost the trust of the public on this issue. On the eve of the last election, 20 percent of Britons thought the Labour Party would be the best party to handle immigration, compared with 13 percent who thought the Conservatives would handle it better. Sunak and the Conservatives went on to lose this election, suffering their worst defeat in modern elections. Historical context of migration The first humans who arrived in the British Isles, were followed by acts of conquest and settlement from Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, and Normans. In the early modern period, there were also significant waves of migration from people fleeing religious or political persecution, such as the French Huguenots. More recently, large numbers of people also left Britain. Between 1820 and 1957, for example, around 4.5 million people migrated from Britain to America. After World War Two, immigration from Britain's colonies and former colonies was encouraged to meet labour demands. A key group that migrated from the Caribbean between the late 1940s and early 1970s became known as the Windrush generation, named after one of the ships that brought the arrivals to Britain.

Migration flows to and from the UK, quarterly tables and charts.

In the twelve months to December 2024, approximately 948,000 people migrated to the United Kingdom, while 517,000 emigrated away from the country, resulting in a net migration figure of 431,000.

2020-based interim national population projections with assumptions of possible future international migration that reflect estimates of international migration to year ending June 2022. The potential future population size of the UK, Great Britain, England and Wales, England, Scotland and Wales. These statistics are widely used in planning, for example, fiscal projections, health, education and pensions. Not national statistics.

In 2024, approximately 766,000 people from outside the European Union migrated to the United Kingdom, compared with 122,000 people from European Union countries, and 60,000 British nationals.

Modelled estimates for UK immigration, emigration and net migration, January 2018 to June 2020.

Annual mid-year data on internal migration moves for England and Wales, by local authority, region, single year of age, five-year age group and sex. Data on internal migration moves between local authorities and regions and internal migration moves into and out of each local authority in England and Wales. Also including a lookup table listing each local authority in England and Wales, the region it is located within, its local authority code and region code.

Data from our first iteration of our development of admin-based migration estimates (ABMEs) using the Registration and Population Interaction Database (RAPID), UK from 2011 to 2020.

Modelled estimates for UK immigration, emigration and net migration, January 2018 to December 2020.

In 2020/21 there were approximately 696,000 Polish nationals living in the United Kingdom, the highest non-British population at this time. Indian and Irish were the joint second-largest nationalities at approximately 370,000 people.

Migration indicators from ONS and DWP. The table below details the sources of the datasets available and the dates of their next update. Migration Statistics Quarterly Report Statistical bulletins, ONS 26 November 2020 National Insurance numbers issued to overseas nationals, Stats-Xplore, DWP. 26 November 2020 Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ONS June 2021 Local area migration indicators suite, ONS. TBA Internal migration - Detailed estimates dataset by origin and destination local authorities, sex and single year of age, ONS. June 2021 Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality, ONS. November 2020 Short term international migration for England and Wales – accompanying data Discontinued - latest available data for 2017

When asked about a proposed points-based system for immigration following the United Kingdom's exit from the EU (Brexit), the majority of hospitality industry leaders said the criteria should take labor shortage areas into consideration. Prior to Brexit, many UK restaurant and hotel businesses relied on EU migrants to fill skill gaps and hard-to-fill vacancies. As EU workers will no longer have the right to freedom of movement in the UK from 2021, there are concerns about the impact new immigration rules will have on the hospitlity workforce.