Net migration to the UK has fallen to its lowest level since the Covid-19 pandemic, now 82% below the record peak in 2023. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net migration stood at an estimated 171,000 in the year to December 2025, down nearly half (48%) from 331,000 in the year to December 2024. This is the lowest figure for any 12-month period since the year to March 2021, when it was 132,000.
Key Numbers and Trends
Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving long-term to the UK and those leaving. In the year to December 2025, approximately 813,000 people immigrated to the UK while 642,000 emigrated, resulting in a net migration of 171,000. The steep decline is part of a downward trend that began in 2023.
Factors Behind the Drop
The main driver is a sharp decline in non-EU work-related immigration. This figure fell from 471,000 in 2023 to 272,000 in 2024 and further to 146,000 in 2025. Policy changes introduced by the previous Conservative government and continued by the current Labour administration have tightened visa rules. From March 2024, care workers could no longer bring family members, and from April 2024, the salary threshold for skilled worker visas and the income threshold for family visas were raised. In July 2025, the Labour Government ended overseas recruitment for care workers and increased the salary threshold again.
Another factor is the reduction in arrivals through humanitarian resettlement schemes for British nationals in Hong Kong and Ukrainians fleeing war, which saw a spike in applications after their launch in 2021 and 2022, followed by a steady decrease.
Additionally, emigration from the UK has increased in recent years, though there are signs this may be reversing. Emigration stood at 642,000 in 2025, down slightly from 680,000 in 2024 but higher than 593,000 in 2023 and 508,000 in 2022. Sarah Crofts, ONS deputy director of migration statistics, noted: "While emigration had been increasing since 2022, there are early signs it may now be starting to fall, mainly due to a decrease in EU nationals leaving, while non-EU emigration has slowed."
British Nationals and Historical Context
The number of British nationals emigrating has remained broadly stable, at 246,000 in 2025, down slightly from 257,000 in 2024 and 255,000 in 2023. Meanwhile, British nationals moving long-term into the UK dropped from 140,000 in 2024 to 110,000 in 2025. The ONS overhauled its method for calculating British migration in 2025 to improve accuracy, applying it to estimates back to June 2021.
Excluding pandemic-affected years, net migration in 2025 was the lowest for any 12-month period since the year to September 2012, when it stood at 157,000.
Future Outlook
The 2024 and 2025 rule changes are expected to continue impacting migration in 2026. Home Office data shows that skilled work visa main applicants in the first four months of 2026 were 7,800, down from 14,400 in the same period in 2025 and 29,200 in 2024. Health and care worker visa main applicants fell to 2,000 in January-April 2026 from 7,000 in 2025 and 12,400 in 2024. This suggests net migration will fall further when the ONS publishes its next estimate in November 2026.
Dr Ben Brindle of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford commented: "Net migration may well have further to fall, because visa grants have continued to decline since 2025. However, the downward trend is likely to be temporary, as lower immigration eventually feeds into lower emigration. Today's data illustrate a challenge: the categories of migration the Government would most like to reduce are the least amenable to policy. Migration of groups with positive economic impacts, such as skilled workers and partners of students, is down, while asylum-related migration remains high. Since refugees have lower employment rates and often need state support, the composition of recent migration has probably become less favourable economically."
