adminLONDON. – The number of EU citizens leaving the UK is at its highest level for a decade, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
It estimates that 130,000 EU nationals emigrated in the year to September, the highest number since 2008. Meanwhile, 220,000 EU nationals came to live in the UK – 47,000 fewer than the previous year.
Net EU migration – the difference between arrivals and departures – was 90,000, the lowest for five years. The figures also show that more British people are emigrating than are returning to live in the UK. Of those EU nationals arriving in the UK, fewer were coming for “work-related reasons”, in particular to “look for work”.
Nicola White, head of international migration statistics at the ONS, said: “Brexit could well be a factor in people’s decision to move to or from the UK, but people’s decision to migrate is complicated and can be influenced by lots of different reasons.”
By contrast, immigration from countries outside the European Union is going up which means the UK population is continuing to grow at a similar level to early 2014.
Some 285,000 non-EU citizens arrived in the UK in the 12-month period to September, and 80,000 departed. This gives a net increase of 205,000, the highest for six years.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said this was largely driven by more people coming to study in the UK and an uncharacteristic dip in the previous year’s figures that may have been corrected.
He also speculated whether firms were starting to struggle to recruit or retain people from the EU, forcing them to look outside the EU. Overall, net migration is estimated to have fallen by 29,000 to 244,000 in the same period. – BBC
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