Net migration to the UK falls by nearly 50 percent amid tighter policies
Key takeaways
- The ONS says net migration fell to 171,000 in the 12 months to the end of December from 331,000 a year earlier.
- Immigration – both legal and illegal – has dominated political debate in the for more than a decade, with successive governments imposing stricter visa rules and higher salary thresholds.
- The British Future think tank said the country was “experiencing one of the sharpest falls in net migration on record”, but that most people believed the opposite, according to its research.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
The ONS says net migration fell to 171,000 in the 12 months to the end of December from 331,000 a year earlier.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Travellers wait in a queue at Heathrow airport in London, England [File: Carl Court/Getty Images]By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters Published On 21 May 202621 May 2026Long-term net migration to the United Kingdom nearly halved in 2025, falling to levels last seen before the post-Brexit immigration system was introduced, as tougher government measures enacted in recent years restricted arrivals.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday that net migration fell to 171,000 in the 12 months to the end of December from 331,000 a year earlier, extending a sharp decline from a record peak of 944,000 in 2023.