Net migration to the UK hit a new record high of 606,000 last year, driven by people from non-EU countries arriving for work, study, and humanitarian reasons, according to official estimates.
The figure—released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday—marks a significant increase from 2021, when net migration stood at 488,000.
A total of 1.2 million people are likely to have migrated to the UK in 2022, while 557,000 are estimated to have migrated from the UK in the same period.
Jay Lindop, ONS director of the centre for international migration, said a series of “unprecedented world events throughout 2022,” together with the lifting of restrictions following the COVID-19 pandemic, led to record levels of international immigration to the UK….