Net migration to UK fell 10% last year, ONS figures show

Net migration to the UK fell 10% last year after hitting a record high in 2022, official figures show.

The number – the difference between the number of people arriving in the UK and leaving – was 685,000 in the year to December 2023, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This represents a fall from 764,000 for the year to December 2022 – a figure revised upwards by 19,000 from the initial estimate of 745,000 now more complete data for the year is available.

The ONS said it is “too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend”.

The number of people coming to the UK for humanitarian reasons – such as from Ukraine and Hong Kong – fell by more than 100,000 during the period.

The data estimates about 1.22 million people came to the UK in 2023, and some 532,000 likely departed.

The biggest driver of migration last year was work. There was also an increase in the number of people arriving from outside the European Union on work visas, the figures suggest.

Non-EU immigration for work reasons went up from 277,000 in the year to December 2022 to 423,000 in the year to December 2023, according to the ONS.

More than four out of 10 people moving to the UK for work-related reasons last year came from India or Nigeria, most commonly in the health and social care sector.

Despite this, data from the Home Office published on Wednesday showed a big fall in visas issued to health and care workers in the first part of 2024 but that is not included in the ONS estimates.

Non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of those on long-term work visas rose slightly in 2023 to 219,000 from 204,000 in 2022.

The Home Office said the net migration figures “do not take into account the major package of measures announced in December which have already started to have an effect”.