UK net migration falls by nearly 80% since 2023
This becomes lowest figure since COVID-19 pandemic, which totaled 132,000 in 12 months to March 2021, according to provisional data from Office for National Statistics
LONDON
Britain's net migration fell by nearly 80% from its peak of 944,000 in the 12 months to March 2023, according to official figures released on Thursday.
Provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that migration added 204,000 people to the UK population between July 2024 and June 2025, a decrease of nearly 70% from the previous year's figure of about 650,000.
According to the figures, this is an 80% decrease from the peak of nearly a million people, 944,000, in the 12 months to March 2023.
This is the lowest figure since the COVID-19 pandemic, which totaled 132,000 in the 12 months to March 2021.
The ONS data also showed that 898,000 people immigrated to the UK between July 2024 and June 2025, down more than 400,000 people from the year before that period.
Separately, citing Home Office figures, the BBC reported that there were 51,000 arrivals detected as coming via illegal routes, such as small boats and other clandestine routes like lorries and vans, in the year ending September 2025. Of those, small boat arrivals accounted for 46,000.
The top nationalities arriving by small boat are Eritrea (17%), Afghanistan (13%), Iran (11%), Sudan (10%), and Somalia (8%).
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