Record numbers leave and enter UK

By Rory MacLean
BBC News

Record number take UK citizenship

Record numbers of people are leaving the UK to live abroad, but more are arriving, according to the latest estimates.

Over the last 10 years about two million British citizens have emigrated. And they make up more than half the total number of people who left the UK in 2006.

The population and migration figures for 2006, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), suggest that overall the numbers of people leaving Britain increased.

It was an estimated 400,000, which the report said was the highest estimate of emigration since the method of counting was introduced in 1991.

Amongst the British citizens in that group who were leaving, two-thirds were heading for just five countries.

Nearly a third went to live in Australia or New Zealand. Just under a quarter went to Spain or France, and eight in every 100 went to live in the United States.

Record arrivals

But despite the record numbers leaving the UK there was also a record number coming in. It is estimated that 591,000 people entered Britain in 2006.

A further reduction in the numbers of British citizens within that group means that there continues to be more Britons leaving than coming back, a trend that has been happening since 2000.

However, British citizens were still the largest group of people coming to the UK. Polish citizens were in second place with some 68,000 arriving in 2006.

Asylum seekers and their dependants contributed an inflow of 6,000 people. That, according to the ONS, is the lowest number since 1991.

When the figures for 2005 and 2006 are combined they produce a top ten of coming and going in the UK:

COMINGS AND GOINGS

Top nationalities of people moving to and leaving UK 2005-2006

Ranking	Citizenship	Immigration	Citizenship	Emigration
1	British	177,000	British	392,000
2	Polish	124,000	Australian	33,000
3	Indian	104,000	US	24,000
4	Pakistani	49,000	South African	22,000
5	Chinese	49,000	Indian	16,000
6	Australia	48,000	New Zealand	16,000
7	South African	41,000	Chinese	15,000
8	German	36,000	Spanish	13,000
9	US	32,000	Republic of Ireland	13,000
10	New Zealand	24,000	Polish	13,000
Source: ONS

Note: Table combines 2005 and 2006 data

The result of this sum of inflows and outflows of people is a net increase in the population running at about 190,000 a year.

When that is coupled with more births than deaths, it accounts for the population in the UK having risen to 60,587,000 by mid 2006.