Net migration has fallen by half in the first set of immigration figures since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government came to power.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, show the difference between people entering and leaving the UK totalled 431,000 in the year to December 2024 - the lowest rate since June 2021.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the drop was “important and welcome after the figures quadrupled to nearly a million” under the Conservatives but shadow home secretary Chris Philp hit back, saying “the figures are still too high and need to go down a lot further”.
While the numbers mostly cover the period when the Tory government was in power, they come amid a fresh Labour crackdown on illegal migration.
Sir Keir has said migrants will have to “earn the right” to live in the UK and has unveiled a swathe of measures, including tougher English requirements, making it harder for people to settle here.
What the numbers say on migration
Today’s migration statistics will be welcome news to Sir Keir and the Labour government, who have committed to bringing down spiralling migration numbers - while also refusing to put a target number on it.
Net migration from December 2023 to 2024 totalled 431,000, down from 860,000 in the same period the year before.
Overall, long-term immigration - when people move somewhere for more than a year - was at 948,000, down by 30 per cent from the previous year.
The latest data shows that 86 per cent of people coming to the UK are from non-EU countries, unchanged from previous figures.
The figure for non-EU nationals moving here is six times higher than EU nationals, with the highest number of people coming from India (156,000 people) and Pakistan (76,000).
This is followed by China, Nigeria and Ukraine.
The number of Nigerians entering the UK dropped drastically from the year up to June 2024, from 120,000 to just 52,000 in December.
Small boats
The high number of illegal migrants arriving in the UK by small boats remains a problem for the government.
Separate Home Office figures show that 11,800 people have arrived by small boat this year.
Though this is notably higher than the same period in recent years, suggesting that the number of small boat arrivals may be higher for 2025.
A significant proportion of small boat arrivals are coming from Eritrea, at 1,291 people from January to March alone.
This made up nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of all arrivals in that period, according to Home Office data released today for the period up to March 2025.
According to Amnesty, military service for people aged 18-40 in Eritrea continues to be mandatory and indefinite, while seeking asylum abroad is considered treason.
Other top countries of origin for small boat migrants are Afghanistan, Sudan, Vietnam and Iran.
Reasons for migration
The number of people coming to the UK for study was higher than for work, the figures show.
Some 266,000 people moved to the UK for study-related reasons in the year to December 2024, compared to 262,000 people coming for work.
Both numbers are down from previous periods.
The number of people coming to seek asylum was at its highest level recorded, at 95,000, with a further 51,000 coming to UK for humanitarian reasons.
Recently, Sir Keir has floated the idea of “return hubs” for failed asylum seekers in third-party countries. This would enable asylum seekers to be sent to other countries for processing before being deported.
No countries have been confirmed, but the Balkans have been reported as possible destinations.
The UN’s refugee agency has endorsed the idea of return hubs; after the Tories’ unsuccessful Rwanda scheme faced widespread criticism over human rights concerns.
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