Foreign nationals in UK

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International comparisons

The UK has experienced broadly similar levels of migration compared to other high-income countries, on average, over the past few decades (see Figure 6.2).

Migration levels fluctuate from year to year, but over the long run, the size of the foreign-born population as a percentage of the population is a good indicator of the level of immigration. OECD figures provide useful international comparisons.

The OECD reports that 15% of the UK’s population was foreign-born in 2023:

similar to France (14%), the US (15%) and the Netherlands (16%);
smaller than Germany (18%), Australia (31%), Canada (22%), and New Zealand (27%);
greater than Japan (2%), Hungary (6%), Italy (11%) and Denmark (11%).

Figure 6.2: Foreign-born population as a share of total population

2021 profile

In 2021 there were, by country of birth, 9.6 million people who were not born in the UK. This includes:

6.0 million people with non-British nationality and 3.6 million foreign-born nationals who had become British citizens.
3.4 million (57%) EU citizens and 2.6 million (43%) non-EU.
- In 2016, there had been around 3.6 million EU citizens living in the UK. Table 6.1 shows the breakdown by region.

The migrant population was concentrated in London where 32% of foreign nationals lived.

After London, the English regions with the highest proportions of foreign nationals were the South East (12.1%), the East (9.1%), the North West (8.2%), the West Midlands (8.0%), and the East Midlands (6.8%).

Table 6.1: Foreign nationals living in UK in 2021

	British	EU	Non-EU	Total	% of EU total	% of non-EU total	Total
Scotland	4,997	231	165	396	6.8%	6.3%	6.6%
Wales	2,994	76	50	126	2.2%	1.9%	2.1%
Northern Ireland	1,737	88	40	128	2.6%	1.5%	2.1%
England	50,559	3,013	2,350	5,363	88.4%	90.2%	89.2%
UK	60,287	3,408 (57%)	2,605 (43%)	6,013	100%	100%	100%

English regions
London	7,128	1,053	890	1,943	30.9%	34.2%	32.3%
South East	8,389	416	313	729	12.2%	12.0%	12.1%
East of England	5,687	340	208	548	10.0%	8.0%	9.1%
North West	6,738	253	240	493	7.4%	9.2%	8.2%
West Midlands	5,388	258	224	482	7.6%	8.6%	8.0%
East Midlands	4,368	269	140	409	7.9%	5.4%	6.8%
North East	2,512	48	60	108	1.4%	2.3%	1.8%
Yorkshire and Humberside	5,095	190	149	339	5.6%	5.7%	5.6%
South West	5,254	186	125	311	5.5%	4.8%	5.2%
England total	50,559	3,013	2,350	5,363	88.4%	90.2%	89.2%

UK nationals living in EU

Estimates of the number of Britons living in the EU ranged from 1.0 to 1.2 million in 2019:

ONS estimated the number of Britons in the EU at 994,000 in 2019 (based on nationality).
UN estimated that 1.19 million British migrants were living in EU countries in 2019 (based on country of birth). The top destinations were Spain (23%), Ireland (23%), France (14%), Germany (8%), Italy (5%) and Netherlands (3%).
In 2017 ONS estimated, there were 785,000 British nationals living in EU member states, excluding Ireland. Separately, ONS estimated that there were 277,200 UK natives resident in Ireland in 2016. These two estimates add up to 1.06 million