Net migration to the UK has fallen by more than two-thirds to 204,000 in the year to June 2025, the lowest annual figure since 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure represents a 69% drop from 649,000 the previous year, driven largely by a sharp decline in non-EU nationals arriving.
Net migration peaked at a record 944,000 in the year to March 2023 following a surge of foreign workers post-pandemic, but has since fallen. Just under 900,000 people immigrated between July 2024 and June 2025, down more than 400,000 on the year before, while 693,000 emigrated, up 43,000.
Long-term immigration of asylum seekers stood at 96,000, making up 11% of all immigration, double the 5% share in 2019. Meanwhile, more EU and British nationals are leaving than arriving, with an estimated 70,000 EU nationals and 109,000 British nationals departing in the year to June.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, cautioned that the decline may not be sustained long term, noting that negative net migration of EU citizens who arrived before Brexit is currently subtracting from the figures but will not continue indefinitely.
Separate Home Office data showed 36,273 asylum seekers housed in hotels at the end of September, up 13% on June. There were 51,000 detected illegal arrivals in the year to September, including 46,000 via small boats. The top nationalities arriving by small boat were Eritrean (17%), Afghan (13%), Iranian (11%), Sudanese (10%) and Somalian (8%).
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said net migration is at its lowest in half a decade, but added that the government is going further with reforms to ensure migrants contribute more than they take out. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp attributed the fall to Conservative reforms but called for further action.
