LONDON: Net migration to the United Kingdom dropped below 200,000 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to government data released Wednesday.
In the 12 months through December 2025, net migration, the number of people entering the country minus those leaving, stood at an estimated 171,000, the Office for National Statistics said.
That represents a 48% decline from 331,000 in 2024.
The figure marks a sharp fall from the peak of 944,000 recorded in 2023. Excluding the pandemic period, when global travel ground to a halt, net migration has not been this low since 2012.
That year, net migration was 157,000 in the 12 months to September, and reached 193,000 in the year to March 2018. During the pandemic, the estimate crashed to roughly 35,000.
The ONS attributed the continued decline to a 47% drop in the number of people arriving from outside the European Union for work purposes.
Policy changes initiated under the previous Conservative government and maintained by the current Labour administration have also reduced arrivals for study and work. These include stopping care workers and overseas students from bringing family members to the U.K. and raising salary thresholds for certain visas. Additional restrictions on the skilled worker visa have made it harder to qualify for lower-skilled professions.
Over the past ten years, the number of employee jobs held by people who were not UK citizens when they first got a National Insurance number has gone up steadily. In July 2014, they held 12% of jobs (about 3.5 million). By December 2025, that rose to 20% (about 6.5 million).
However, a different measure shows that in December 2025, non-UK citizens made up 19% of all employees (about 5.9 million people). The first number is higher because migrants are more likely to have more than one job. Neither of these counts includes self-employed people or those paid in cash.
London has the highest share, with 43% of employee jobs held by non-UK citizens. Wales (10%) and the North East of England (11%) have the lowest.
Before Brexit, more jobs were held by EU migrants than non-EU migrants. At that time, EU citizens could move to the UK freely.
But since the new post-Brexit immigration system started in January 2021, non-EU citizens have become the main source of growth in the migrant workforce. This is mostly because many were hired in health and care jobs, especially care work.
