NET migration to the UK has plummeted to its lowest level since Covid at 171,000, according to the latest official figures.
Data from the Office for National Statistics reveals a near-halving of the net inflow within a single year.
The total for the 12 months to December 2025 shows the gap between arrivals and departures has fallen by 48.3 per cent.
The numbers are down from 331,000 in the previous year, according to the latest data.
Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving long-term to the UK and the number of people leaving the country.
The sharp decline represents the lowest level of net migration recorded in nearly five years.
It matches figures not seen since early 2021 during the Covid pandemic when the total stood at 132,000.
The latest figure marks a dramatic retreat from the historic peak of 944,000 recorded in the year to March 2023, since which numbers have steadily declined.
In total, 813,000 people immigrated to the UK over the course of 2025.
The continued fall in net migration is being driven by fewer people from outside the EU arriving in the UK for work or study, the ONS said.
Emigration is also down to it’s lowest in just over a year, with 650,000 people recorded leaving the UK in June 2024.
It means there has been relatively little change in emigration over the past year and a half, while there have been bigger falls on .
More British nationals are estimated to have left the UK in the year to December 2025 (246,000) than moved to the country (110,000), the ONS said.
It was a similar picture for nationals from “EU-plus countries” – covering the 27 members of the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
More people from outside the EU moved to the UK in 2025 (627,000) than left (278,000).
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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