Net migration to the United Kingdom dropped sharply to 204,000 in the year ending June 2025, marking one of the steepest declines in recent years and signaling a significant shift in the country’s migration patterns.
According to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the latest estimate reflects a dramatic fall from 649,000(-69%) during the same period in 2024 and represents nearly an 80% drop from the record highs reached in 2023.
The ONS said the decline was driven largely by fewer non-EU nationals coming to the U.K. to work or study, combined with a “gradual increase in levels of emigration.”
The latest figures show that just under 900,000 people immigrated to the U.K. between July 2024 and June 2025, more than 400,000 fewer than during the previous 12-month period. Meanwhile, 693,000 people emigrated, an increase of 43,000, driven in part by the expiration of temporary work visas and shifting global labor patterns.
Migration reached a record high of 944,000 in the year to March 2023, but the combined effect of tighter visa rules and slowing economic demand has since reversed that trajectory. Both the governing Labour Party and the Conservative opposition are expected to cite the decline as evidence that their respective policies have helped reshape migration flows.
While overall migration fell, Home Office data released the same day painted a more complicated picture. The number of asylum seekers housed in hotels climbed to 36,273 at the end of September, a 13% rise since June, showing the government’s continued struggle to process claims and transition applicants into longer-term accommodations.
The Home Office also reported 51,000 people arriving through irregular routes, including small boats, trucks and other clandestine means, in the year ending September 2025. Small boat crossings remained the dominant method, accounting for 46,000 arrivals or 89%. The largest groups came from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Somalia.
Asylum claims remained high but stable, with 111,000 applications in the year to September, slightly below the total recorded in the 12 months to June.
Immigration has reemerged as a central political issue amid rising support for Reform UK, the right-wing party led by Nigel Farage, whose hard-line messaging has pressured both major parties to demonstrate firmer control over the border.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the new data shows the government’s approach is working. “Net migration is at its lowest level in half a decade and has fallen by more than two-thirds under this government,” she said, adding that additional reforms were underway to ensure that “those who come here must contribute and put in more than they take out.”
The government’s latest measures build on policies introduced under former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which tightened work and student visa rules, restrictions the Labour government has maintained and expanded as it seeks to manage public concern ahead of the next election.
