Net migration, or the difference between people coming into a country and those leaving, from the European Union to the United Kingdom between October 2017 and September 2018 has fallen to its lowest figure since 2009 amid the country's planned exit from the bloc next month, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its report on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th February, 2019) Net migration, or the difference between people coming into a country and those leaving, from the European Union to the United Kingdom between October 2017 and September 2018 has fallen to its lowest figure since 2009 amid the country's planned exit from the bloc next month, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in its report on Thursday."EU net migration has fallen to a level last seen in 2009. Despite this, EU citizens continue to add to the UK population, with an estimated 57,000 more EU citizens coming to the UK than leaving in the year ending September 2018," the report said.
According to the report, more citizens from Central and Eastern European countries are leaving the United Kingdom than arriving, while non-EU net migration is currently at its highest since 2004, primarily due to the rise in the number of people coming to work and study.
Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said that this data indicated that the attractiveness of the United Kingdom for EU migrants had dropped due to the uncertainty borne out of the Brexit process, falling value of the UK pound, as well as improving job opportunities in other EU countries.
The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on March 29. While London as managed to negotiate a withdrawal deal with Brussels, the UK parliament has been refusing to endorse the deal due to the controversial provision on the Irish border backstop, contributing to fears of a no-deal Brexit.
