UK net migration dropped to an estimated 171,000 in the year to December 2025, the lowest level since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure represents a 48% decrease from the previous year's 331,000.
It is the first time net migration has fallen below 200,000 since the Covid-19 outbreak began. In the year to March 2021, when travel restrictions were still in place, it stood at 132,000. The continued decline is driven by fewer arrivals from outside the EU for work, the ONS said.
Some 813,000 people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in 2025, while 642,000 left. Excluding pandemic-affected years, net migration was the lowest since the year to September 2012, when it stood at 157,000.
The figures may renew calls to soften Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's immigration policies. Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has voiced concerns about proposals to double the time to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to 10 years.
Marley Morris of the Institute for Public Policy Research said the government's progress “should prompt a more measured debate”, warning that an “excessively tough approach” risks making policy for the pressures of three years ago. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp urged Labour to reform ILR “before their hard-left flank forces them to abandon it altogether”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the figures show his government is “delivering” on border control. The Home Secretary acknowledged progress but said there is “still work to do”, including introducing a skills-based migration system. The Refugee Council's Jon Featonby welcomed the end of asylum hotels but noted families fleeing war have “almost no safe and legal way to reach the UK”.
