Indian students and workers formed the largest group of foreign nationals to leave the United Kingdom over the past year, according to the country’s latest migration statistics released on Thursday.
“Among people emigrating [leaving one's country to live in another], Indian was the most common nationality,” stated the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in an analysis based on UK Home Office data. It further noted that “Indian was the most common non-EU+ nationality to immigrate [come into another country to live] to the UK.”
The findings were published in the report titled "Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending December 2024."
According to the ONS, around 58,000 Indians emigrated from the UK in 2024 — 37,000 had originally come for study, 18,000 for work, and 3,000 for other unspecified reasons.
They were followed by Chinese nationals (45,000), Nigerians (16,000), Pakistanis (12,000), and Americans (8,000), rounding out the top five nationalities emigrating from the UK. This contributed to a sharp fall in overall net migration, which dropped by 4,31,000 last year — nearly half of the previous year’s figure.
Emigration rose by 11 percent, from 4,66,000 in 2023 to an estimated 5,17,000 in the year ending December 2024.
“Study-related emigration was the most common reason for the five most frequent non-EU nationalities to leave," the report said. It added that the rise in long-term emigration among non-EU nationals was “primarily driven by the large numbers of Indian and Chinese nationals leaving.”
Mary Gregory, director of Population Statistics at the ONS, told PTI that the fall in net migration was “driven largely by falling numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK, particularly student dependants.”
“There has also been an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024, especially of those who originally came on study visas, once pandemic-related travel restrictions were eased,” she noted.
The UK government welcomed the sharp decline in net migration, a contentious political issue that has fuelled the rise of the far-right, anti-immigration Reform party.
“Under the Tories, net migration reached nearly 1 million – roughly the size of Birmingham. I know you are angry about this, and I promised you I would change it,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a social media statement.
“Today’s stats show we have nearly halved net migration in the last year. We’re taking back control,” he added.
Experts said this was the largest drop in net migration ever recorded in a single calendar year, marking the most significant fall since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These figures show a big increase in returns of failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders, record levels of illegal working penalties, and a reduction in both the asylum backlog and hotel use,” said UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Meanwhile, long-term immigration to the UK dipped below 1 million for the first time in nearly three years — estimated at 9,48,000 for 2024, down from 1.33 million in 2023.
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who served under the Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak, credited the decline to measures he had introduced: “This drop is because of the visa rule changes that I put in place,” he said.
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
