Net migration to the UK in the year ending December 2025 was 171,000. Last year it was 331,000. That is a 48% year-on-year drop and the lowest annual figure since 2012 outside the Covid period.
Net migration peaked at 944,000 in early 2023, so the cumulative fall is about 773,000 in under three years.
The breakdown is worth a look:
- Non-EU+ net migration: 350,000 (down from 511,000)
- EU+ net migration: minus 42,000 (more EU citizens left than arrived)
- British nationals: minus 136,000 (more Brits left than returned)
Among non-EU+ arrivals: study 294,000, work 146,000 (down 47% year on year), asylum 88,000, family roughly 44,000.
The two policy levers driving the work-route fall: care worker recruitment from overseas was closed to new applicants in March 2024 by the previous government and kept closed by Labour. Skilled Worker visa salary threshold was raised from £26,200 to £38,700 from April 2024, also Conservative-set and Labour-continued.
So both governments get to claim some of this. Whether the political read is "Labour halved migration" or "Conservative tightening finally worked" depends on where you measure from.
Wrote up the full numbers + breakdown here: trendingsheet.com/article/uk-net-migration-2025-ons-171000-48-percent-drop
Anyone working in care or higher ed seeing knock-on effects in the labour market yet?