New immigration stats out today show that 2010 set a new record for net migration into the UK. The figure hit 252,000 – a 27 per cent increase on 2009 and 7,000 higher than the previous
record in 2004:
As this graph shows, the number of immigrants moving to the UK has actually been fairly constant – at around 580,000 – since 2004 (when the ‘accession eight’ countries in eastern Europe
joined the EU). But the number of people leaving the country has dropped off significantly in the past couple of years – from 427,000 in 2008 to 339,000 last year, hence the increase in net
migration.
So, as Gillian Duffy might ask, where are they flocking from? Here’s where the 591,000 people who migrated to the UK last year came from:
And why do they come? Predominantly to study: 40 per cent of immigrants said formal study was their main reason for moving to the UK.
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