Net migration to the UK fell 10% last yr after hitting a report excessive in 2022, official figures show.
The quantity – the distinction between the variety of individuals arriving within the UK and leaving – was 685,000 within the yr to December 2023, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This represents a fall from 764,000 for the yr to December 2022 – a determine revised upwards by 19,000 from the initial estimate of 745,000 now extra full knowledge for the yr is obtainable.
The ONS mentioned it’s “too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend”.
The variety of individuals coming to the UK for humanitarian causes – similar to from Ukraine and Hong Kong – fell by greater than 100,000 throughout the interval.
The knowledge estimates about 1.22 million individuals got here to the UK in 2023, and a few 532,000 possible departed.
The greatest driver of migration last yr was work. There was additionally a rise within the variety of individuals arriving from exterior the European Union on work visas, the figures recommend.
Non-EU immigration for work causes went up from 277,000 within the yr to December 2022 to 423,000 within the yr to December 2023, in accordance to the ONS.
More than 4 out of 10 individuals shifting to the UK for work-related causes last yr got here from India or Nigeria, mostly within the well being and social care sector.
Despite this, knowledge from the Home Office printed on Wednesday confirmed an enormous fall in visas issued to well being and care staff within the first a part of 2024 however that’s not included within the ONS estimates.
Non-EU nationals arriving as dependants of these on long-term work visas rose barely in 2023 to 219,000 from 204,000 in 2022.
The Home Office mentioned the online migration figures “don’t take into consideration the main bundle of measures introduced in December which have already began to have an impact”.
