UK net migration drops to 171,000 in 2025, lowest since 2012

Net migration to the UK fell to 171,000 in 2025, roughly half the 2024 figure of about 340,000 and the lowest level since 2012 excluding the Covid pandemic, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday.

Just over 800,000 people immigrated to the UK in 2025, down 20% year-on-year, while an estimated 642,000 people left the UK long-term in the year to December 2025. The ONS said the decrease was driven by fewer arrivals from outside the European Union, particularly for work.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the statistics showed the government was "restoring order and control to our borders." She announced plans to shift the focus of work visa criteria from expected earnings to skills, saying the goal was to "end Britain's reliance on cheap overseas labour." Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the House of Commons the data showed his government was "delivering," adding there was "more to do."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp attributed the net migration drop to British citizens leaving the country. "British citizens are leaving the UK on a massive scale, driven away by Labour's high taxes," he said, adding that non-EU immigration remained "far too high." Philp said a Conservative government would introduce a binding annual immigration cap at a very low level, aiming for a "small number of highly skilled migrants and no low-skilled migration at all."

Data showed 246,000 British nationals left the UK in the year to December 2025, while 110,000 returned, producing a net loss of 136,000. Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick called this "the Starmer exodus," saying many of those leaving were "entrepreneurs, investors, small business people." The ONS said the number of British nationals emigrating has been "broadly stable" in recent years, with 257,000 leaving in 2024 and 255,000 in 2023.

Asylum claims in the 12 months to March 2026 totalled 93,525, down 12% year-on-year, but still more than double pre-pandemic levels. The number of asylum seekers housed in hotels fell to 20,885 as of March 2026, down from 30,657 in December 2025 and from a peak of 56,000 in September 2023.

The government has retained and expanded measures introduced by the previous Conservative government in early 2024, including restricting most overseas students and care workers from bringing family members to the UK. Ministers also increased the general salary threshold for skilled visas from £26,200 to £38,700 and raised the minimum income requirement to sponsor a family visa by more than £10,000.