UK net migration reduced by half in a year

The number of non-EU citizens who migrate to work has dropped by half according to new statistics released by the Office for National Statistics.

Estimates suggest that the number of immigrants minus emigrants will be 431,000 for the year 2024. This compares to 860,000 for the year 2023.

The figures also show that there have been 17% less applications from immigrants to study in the UK, and the total immigration for long-term was down by a third compared to the previous year. 948,00 people came to the UK.

In the same year, 517,000 people left Britain, an 11% increase on the previous one.

Mary Gregory, Director of Population Statistics at the ONS, said: “Our preliminary estimates show that net migration has nearly halved in comparison with the previous years, driven by a falling number of people coming to study and work, especially student dependents.

This follows policy changes that have been made to restrict visa applications.

“There was also an increase in emigration during the year to December 2024. This is especially true for people who left on study visas after the pandemic travel restrictions were lifted to the UK.”

The Migration Observatory (an independent research and analytical group at Oxford University) responded to the latest figures by tweeting: “Blimey.” Net migration over the long-term is down almost 50%, to 431,000. We’ve been expecting this massive decline for some time.”

The decline in net migration can be attributed to the measures taken by the Conservative government, at the end 2023. These measures were designed to reduce immigration by around 300,000. These measures included raising salary thresholds, replacing shortage occupation lists, reforming study and work visas to ensure that students would have fewer dependents with them, and requiring higher levels of English on all immigration routes.

The Starmer government released new proposals in a white paper on immigration last week. Ministers argued that the document would help reduce the reliance of overseas workers.

Director of the Migration Observatory Dr Madeleine Sumption said that the economic impact was unlikely to be significant. “This record-breaking decrease in net migration was made possible because the numbers were so high before. The UK migration patterns of 2023 were unusually high, with a large number of visas granted to care workers, international student and their families. The government was able to reduce the number of visas at the time.

The economic impact of the decline will likely be small. This is because the groups responsible for the decline in numbers, like those who are dependent on others to study or work, are not the highest-paid, most skilled migrants, who contribute substantially to tax revenues. Nor are they the most disadvantaged, which require substantial support.

Migration Observatory reported that the net migration decline was equal to 49% of the decrease seen between 2019 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This fall was greater than the one seen in the year following the EU referendum when EU migration dropped sharply, but non-EU immigration had yet to begin its rapid increase. Net migration decreased from 321,000 in the year ending 2016 to 200,000 the following year, a drop of 121,000 (or 38%).

Ben Brindle, a researcher at the University of Cambridge, added: “Unless anything surprising happens net migration will continue to fall.” Data on the restrictions of the previous government are still not fully visible. The policy proposals of last week should further reduce migration, albeit by a small percentage. These declines won’t necessarily bring us to historically low levels.

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