People moving to and from London

What does this chart show?

The graph shows how the number of people migrating in and out of London both domestically and internationally has changed over time.

The grey bars show net migration to and from London. That is how many people have moved to London, minus how many people have moved away. This is for both domestic and international migration. It shows that in 2014/15 there was a net inflow of just under 60,000 people to London. The last time there was a net in ow this large was in 2010/11, when it was just over 60,000. The following year there was a significant drop to below 20,000. However the net migration inflow has increased every year since.

The yellow and orange lines show domestic migration, that is migration to and from other parts of the UK. For all years since 2004/05 more people have moved from London to other parts of the UK than the other way round. In 2014/15 domestic emigration was at a peak of 280,000. This is markedly higher than the low of 240,000 in 2008/09. Domestic immigration has remained relatively steady since 2004/05; in 2014/15 it was 210,000.

The blue lines show international migration. In 2014/15 international immigration was at a peak of 220,000. International immigration remained relatively constant from 2004/05 onwards, at around the 200,000 mark, it then fell significantly for two years in a row in 2011/12 and 2012/13, to 170,000. Since then it has increased to a 10-year high in 2014/15.

International emigration has been significantly lower than international immigration since 2004/05. In 2014/15 it was at a 10-year low of 90,000, 30,000 below the peak of 120,000 in 2009/10.

The population of London has increased much more than these numbers suggest, which shows that the main driver of London’s population growth in the last decade has been the number of births being higher than the number of deaths, rather than the number of people moving in being higher than those moving out. Net migration figures account for slightly more than a quarter (27%) of London’s population growth. 

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