Net migration to Britain fell to 171,000 last year, new official figures show.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the figure – those coming to live here long-term minus those emigrating – nearly halved from the previous year’s 331,000.

Net migration peaked at 944,000 in 2023. 

Last year 813,000 migrants came to live here long-term, down from a peak of nearly 1.5million in 2023, with 77 per cent coming from outside the European Union. 

Meanwhile, 642,000 people – of all nationalities – emigrated from Britain, including 246,000 British nationals.

But the ONS said fewer Brits are returning to the UK than are leaving, with a net loss of 136,000 people last year. 

It included 75,000 young people aged 16 to 34.

The ONS said the gap in that age group ‘has grown every year since 2022’, adding: ‘This may suggest young Brits who move abroad for work are staying for longer periods, or that students who study overseas are then staying for work.’

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said it was an ‘exodus’ of young people fleeing Labour’s high-tax Britain.

‘Huge numbers of Brits are leaving and not coming back,’ the MP said.

‘We are in an exodus of our brightest and best young people and Labour are trading them for lower-wage migrants. 

‘These are the young people, our future, fleeing high taxes and low growth.

‘It’s 75,000 more than came back. That’s one 747 a day leaving fully loaded with our young people.’

The ONS also said the number of people who came to Britain to claim asylum during the year was 88,000, up slightly on the previous year.

The figures therefore suggest about half of net migration – 49 per cent – was made up of asylum seekers.

However, the ONS suggested a better measure was taking asylum as a proportion of total immigration from outside the EU, which put it at 14 per cent.

Experts at Oxford University’s Migration Observatory said net migration’s growing proportion of asylum seekers indicated the type of immigration to Britain was becoming ‘less favourable’.

Researcher Dr Ben Brindle said: ‘Migration is down now, but the economic impacts depend more on who is — or is no longer — migrating than how many.

‘Today’s data illustrate a challenge the government faces, namely that the categories of migration it would most like to reduce are the ones least amenable to policy. 

‘As a result, migration of groups that make positive or broadly neutral economic impacts – such as skilled workers and partners of students – is down, while asylum related migration remains high.

‘Since refugees have lower employment rates and often need a lot of support from the state, this means that the composition of recent migration has probably become less favourable from an economic perspective.’

New data from the ONS also showed the foreign-born population of Britain jumped by 1.6million between 2022 and 2024, to 13.1million.

The foreign-born now make up 19 per cent of the population – or almost one in five – up from 16 per cent, or one in six, at the 2021 Census.

The Migration Observatory’s Dr Brindle said: ‘The sharp increase in net migration after the pandemic has pushed the foreign-born to its highest ever share of the UK population.’

Separate data published by the Home Office – covering the more up-to-date period of the 12 months ending this March – showed there were 94,000 asylum claims, down 12 per cent year-on-year.

It also revealed 21,000 asylum seekers were living in taxpayer-funded hotel accommodation at the end of March, down 35 per cent year-on-year. 

In all, the number of asylum seekers being supported by the Home Office has dipped to 97,500.

However, the number of asylum seekers in dispersal accommodation – self-catering flats and houses across the country – stood at 68,719, up from just under 62,000 at just before the 2024 general election.

These figures exclude Afghans who came here under special schemes set up by the government to support those at risk from the Taliban. 

When they are included, the total receiving support is just over 136,000, up from 130,000 at the election.

Tory MP and shadow minister Neil O’Brien said in a blog post: ‘So for all of the government’s boasting about shutting hotels, for most people in most areas the experience is of an increase in asylum seekers being housed locally.

‘Rather like blowing on a dandelion, the Home Office are dispersing people all over the country.

‘The government hopes this will make the problem less visible.

‘I think there is every chance that it will backfire, as people are left high and dry in the villages and town suburbs where there is very little social infrastructure to connect to and few people in a similar situation.’

Although the number of foreign nationals removed from the UK by the Home Office rose 7 per cent to 39,000, only 2,750 of those had arrived in Britain by small boat across the Channel – a 17 per cent year-on-year rise.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Nearly 100,000 people are now in asylum accommodation, and Labour’s answer is to move them out of hotels hide them in residential streets.

‘Labour should be deporting all illegal immigrants, but they simply don’t have the backbone to do.

‘Many of the 93 per cent that are allowed to stay by this Government go on to commit serious crimes, including murder, rape, and the sexual assault of young girls. This situation is a disgrace.’

During the year 253,000 work visas were granted, down 17 per cent, and 410,000 study visas, down 3 per cent.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Net migration has fallen by 82 per cent in just three years.

‘We will always welcome those who contribute to this country and wish to build a better life here.

‘But we must restore order and control to our borders.

‘As these statistics show, real progress has been made, but there is still work to do. 

‘That is why I am introducing a skills-based migration system that rewards contribution and ends Britain’s reliance on cheap overseas workers.’