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.

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.

Between 1820 and 1957, over 4.5 million people emigrated from Great Britain to the United States. The period with the highest levels of migration came during the 1860s, 70s and 80s, with almost 110 thousand people migrating in 1888 alone. The period with the lowest levels of migration came in the 1930s and early 40s, as the Great Depression caused an economic crisis across the globe, hitting the US and Great Britain particularly hard. Economic recovery in the late 1930s caused the migration rate to increase again, before the Second World War brought the numbers back down in the first half of the 1940s.

In the 2023 financial year, it was estimated that approximately 19.23 thousand more United Kingdom nationals migrated to Australia than emigrated. This marked a significant increase in net overseas migration from the UK to Australia compared to the previous financial year.

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.

In the first quarter of 2025, approximately 82.4 percent of people born in the European Union but living in the UK were employed, compared with 74.6 percent for the UK-born population, and 74.1 percent for people outside the EU and UK. Since 2006, the employment rate for people born in the EU has consistently been higher than UK nationals and non-EU nationals.

UK residents by individual countries of birth and citizenship, broken down by UK country, local authority, unitary authority, metropolitan and London boroughs, and counties. Estimates from the Annual Population Survey.

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.

In 2024, approximately 517,000 people emigrated from the United Kingdom, 77,000 of which were British citizens, 218,000 were EU citizens, and a further 222,000 were non-EU citizens.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

The latest population figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 28 June 2018 show that an estimated 534,800 people live in Bradford District – an increase of 2,300 people (0.4%) since the previous year.

Bradford District is the fifth largest metropolitan district (in terms of population) in England, after Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester although the District’s population growth is lower than other major cities.

The increase in the District’s population is largely due to “natural change”- there have been around 3,300 more births than deaths, although this has been balanced by a larger number of people leaving Bradford to live in other parts of the UK than coming to live here and a lower number of international migrants. In 2016/17 the net internal migration was -2,700 and the net international migration was 1,700.

A large proportion of Bradford’s population is dominated by the younger age groups. More than one-quarter (29%) of the District’s population is aged less than 20 and nearly seven in ten people are aged less than 50. Bradford has the highest percentage of the under 16 population in England after the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Slough Borough Council and Luton Borough Council.

The population of Bradford is ethnically diverse. The largest proportion of the district’s population (63.9%) identifies themselves as White British. The district has the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin (20.3%) in England.

The largest religious group in Bradford is Christian (45.9% of the population). Nearly one quarter of the population (24.7%) are Muslim. Just over one fifth of the district’s population (20.7%) stated that they had no religion.

There are 216,813 households in the Bradford district. Most households own their own home (29.3% outright and 35.7% with a mortgage). The percentage of privately rented households is 18.1%. 29.6% of households were single person households.

Information from the Annual Population Survey in December 2017 found that Bradford has 228,100 people aged 16-64 in employment. At 68% this is significantly lower than the national rate (74.9%). 91,100 (around 1 in 3 people) aged 16-64, are not in work. The claimant count rate is 2.9% which is higher than the regional and national averages.

Skill levels are improving with 26.5% of 16 to 74 year olds educated to degree level. 18% of the district’s employed residents work in retail/wholesale. The percentage of people working in manufacturing has continued to decrease from 13.4% in 2009 to 11.9% in 2016. This is still higher than the average for Great Britain (8.1%).

This table contains 25 series, with data for years 1955 - 2013 (not all combinations necessarily have data for all years). This table contains data described by the following dimensions (Not all combinations are available): Geography (1 items: Canada ...) Last permanent residence (25 items: Total immigrants; France; Great Britain; Total Europe ...).

Net migration reached its lowest level in 1950 (-******) when the number of migrants arriving in the country was estimated at *****, compared to around ****** people departing. In 2024, there were more inflows than outflows, resulting in a net migration of nearly ***** people. Foreign migration of population For several years Poland has been witnessing a positive balance of migration. The number of immigrants reached ******, while emigration reached ****** in 2024. The main directions of permanent emigration are Germany and the United Kingdom. Immigrants coming to Poland to live permanently are mostly returning Polish emigrants. Hence, the most significant number of people came from the United Kingdom and Germany. Much larger is the scale of migration for temporary residence. There has been an increase in the number of immigrants temporarily staying in Poland recently. The number of economic immigrants is growing, especially Ukrainian citizens interested in taking up temporary employment. There is also a noticeable increase in the number of foreigners interested in continuing their education at Polish universities. The analysis of migration trends indicates that Poland is transforming from a typical emigration country into an emigration and immigration country. Internal migration of the population The period from 2017 to 2019 saw an increased number of internal movements. However, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of internal migrants fell to ******* in 2020. As a result of internal migration, rural areas gained residents. The balance of migration for rural areas amounted to nearly ****** people. In Mazowieckie, Pomorskie, Małopolskie, Dolnośląskie, and Wielkopolskie region, the inflow of population was greater than the outflow. Therefore, internal migrations caused an increase in the population of those voivodeships. The remaining voivodeships recorded a decrease. The most significant population loss in 2020 was experienced by Lubelskie and Śląskie voivodeships — this trend has been maintained for several years.

As of June 2021, there were around ******* Polish nationals living in the United Kingdom. Between 2008 and 2019, the Polish population of the United Kingdom more than doubled, reaching a peak of over *** million in 2017.

The latest population figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 23 June 2016 show that an estimated 531,200 people live in Bradford District – an increase of 3,000 people (0.6%) since the previous year. Bradford District is the fourth largest metropolitan district (in terms of population) in England, after Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds although the District’s population growth is lower than other major cities. In the last year Bradford’s population has grown at a rate of 0.6% which is faster than the previous three years when the population increased by 0.3% each year. The increase in the District’s population is largely due to “natural change”- there have been around 3,500 more births than deaths, although this has been balanced by a larger number of people leaving Bradford to live in other parts of the UK than coming to live here and a lower number of international migrants. In 2014/15 the net internal migration was -2,900 and the net international migration was 2,500. A large proportion of Bradford’s population is dominated by the younger age groups. More than one-quarter (29%) of the District’s population is aged less than 20 and nearly seven in ten people are aged less than 50. Bradford has the highest percentage of the under 16 population in England after the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and Slough Borough Council. The population of Bradford is ethnically diverse. The largest proportion of the district’s population (63.9%) identifies themselves as White British. The district has the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin (20.3%) in England. The largest religious group in Bradford is Christian (45.9% of the population). Nearly one quarter of the population (24.7%) are Muslim. Just over one fifth of the district’s population (20.7%) stated that they had no religion. There are 199, 296 households in the Bradford district. Most households own their own home (29.3% outright and 35.7% with a mortgage). The percentage of privately rented households is 18.1%. 29.6% of households were single person households. Information from the Annual Population Survey in June 2016 found that Bradford has 214,000 people aged 16-64 in employment. At 65.1% this is significantly lower than the national rate (74.0%) 111,100 (around 1 in 3 people) aged 16-64, are not in work. The claimant count rate is 2.7% which is higher than the regional and national averages. Skill levels are improving with 26.8% of 16 to 74 year olds educated to degree level. 16.1% of the district’s employed residents work in retail/wholesale. The percentage of people working in manufacturing has continued to decrease from 13.4% in 2009 to 13% in 2015. This is still higher than the average for Great Britain (8.3%)