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Emigration

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 3 March 2008:"The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your questions relating to nationality of migrants:""To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, from which 20 countries the most immigrants to the UK came in each of the last 10 years; and how many of each nationality immigrated in each year. (177406)""To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) UK nationals and (b) non-UK nationals emigrated from the UK in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (i) age and (ii) sex. (177411)""To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many emigrants from the UK counted for the purpose of calculating emigration were (a) UK nationals, (b) UK nationals of working age and (c) skilled workers who were UK nationals of working age in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; and what percentage of the total emigration figure in each year each of these figures represent. (177453)""I am replying in her absence.""A long-term international migrant is defined as someone who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year, so that the country of destination effectively becomes the country of usual residence. This is the United Nations recommended definition of a long-term international migrant and is the definition used for calculating population estimates and projections.""Total International Migration (TIM) estimates provide the most comprehensive figures on long-term international migration. The main source for producing these estimates is the International Passenger Survey (IPS).""While other migration flows, not captured by the IPS, are included in the TIM estimates, the nature of these other data sources and the methods used to produce TIM mean that some detailed queries can only be answered using the IPS. As a sample survey, data from the IPS are subject to a statistical margin of error.""For IPS purposes ““citizenship”” is taken to be the nationality of the passport being used by the passenger and in this context ‘British’ includes the whole of the UK and Gibraltar. These definitions have been used in providing the information you have requested.""Table 1 lists the top 20 citizenships of those migrating into the UK in each of the years 1997 to 2006. The top category in each year, British citizens, predominantly comprises British passport holders returning to the UK after a stay of a year or more abroad. As indicated in the table, estimates for some of the top 20 countries have a wide margin of statistical sampling error. For this reason, in Table 2, estimated numbers are presented for combined years for the top 10 countries only. The tables all refer to the citizenship of the immigrant, not their country of last residence. (177406)""Table 3 attached, shows how many British nationals and non British nationals emigrated from the UK in each of the years between 1997 and 2006 (the latest year available), broken down by age group and sex. (177411)""Table 4, attached, gives the International Passenger Survey estimates of emigration of British citizens by working age and previous occupation and as a percentage of total emigration, for the United Kingdom. IPS data do not specifically identify ‘skilled workers’. The closest prosy is ‘usual occupation prior to migration’ which is based on very broad occupational groupings. Most of those in the ‘professional and managerial’ category could be considered skilled workers although some, such as professionals taking early retirement would not fall under this category. Also, the ‘manual and clerical’ grouping, which covers all other workers, may include some skilled workers such as tradesmen and so this is also shown for information. (177453)"

Table I International migration, estimates from the International Passenger Survey, top 20 citizenships migrating into the UK, time series 1997 to 2006, part I
	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
1	British	British	British	British	British
2	France¹	Australia	Australia	Australia	Australia
3	Australia	United States of America	United States of America	India	France¹
4	United States of America	France¹	France¹	China (Peoples Republic)	India
5	Malaysia	New Zealand	New Zealand	France¹	Germany
6	India	Greece	South Africa	United States of America	South Africa
7	Greece¹	South Africa	China (Peoples Republic)	South Africa¹	China (Peoples Republic)
8	Germany¹	Italy¹	India	New Zealand	United States of America
9	Japan	Germany¹	Greece¹	Germany¹	Philippines
10	New Zealand	Spain¹	Germany¹	Pakistan	New Zealand
11	South Africa¹	Japan	Pakistan¹	Italy¹	Pakistan¹
12	Pakistan	India	Japan	Canada¹	South Korea¹
13	Bangladesh	Malaysia¹	Philippines¹	Japan	Malaysia
14	Canada¹	Canada¹	Slovakia¹	Philippines	Japan
15	Netherlands¹	China (Peoples Republic)¹	Italy¹	Malaysia	Bangladesh
16	Sweden¹	Mauritius¹	Malaysia	Nigeria¹	Greece¹
17	South Korea¹	Pakistan	Denmark¹	Greece¹	Canada¹
18	Spain¹	Sweden¹	Belgium¹	South Korea¹	Zimbabwe¹
19	Cyprus¹	Netherlands¹	Austria¹	Netherlands¹	Thailand
20	Finland¹	Denmark¹	Kenya¹	Sri Lanka	Hungary¹
¹ Countries where the estimate has a standard error >25 per cent., these estimates are considered less reliable than other estimates.
Notes:
1. The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous voluntary sample survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. It covers the principal air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles.
2. This table relates solely to the IPS. IPS data form the major part of international migration. However, total international migration estimates are produced by combining migration data from the IPS, Home Office data on asylum seekers, migration data between the UK and the Irish Republic and adjustments for ‘switchers’, i.e. those whose initial length of stay intentions are not realised.
Source:
Office for National Statistics

Table I International migration, estimates from the International Passenger Survey, top 20 citizenships migrating into the UK, time series 1997 to 2006, part 2
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
1	British	British	British	British	British
2	China (Peoples Republic)	China (Peoples Republic)	India	Poland	Poland
3	South Africa	India	China (Peoples Republic)	India	India
4	India	France¹	South Africa	South Africa	Pakistan
5	Philippines	Australia	Australia	China (Peoples Republic)	Australia
6	Australia	South Africa	Pakistan	Australia	China (Peoples Republic)
7	United States of America	United States of America	Poland¹	Pakistan	South Africa
8	Germany¹	Philippines	United States of America	United States of America	United States of America
9	New Zealand	Pakistan	Philippines	Germany¹	Germany
10	Spain¹	Portugal¹	Germany¹	New Zealand	New Zealand
11	France¹	New Zealand	Lithuania¹	Japan¹	Philippines¹
12	Japan¹	Germany¹	France¹	Philippines	Bangladesh
13	Pakistan	Ghana	Nigeria	Bangladesh	Nigeria
14	Italy¹	Netherlands¹	New Zealand	Spain¹	Slovakia¹
15	Canada	Canada	Zimbabwe¹	Nigeria	Thailand¹
16	Hong Kong¹	Sri Lanka	Spain¹	Czech state¹	France¹
17	Netherlands¹	Japan	Czech state¹	Slovakia¹	Malaysia¹
18	Kenya¹	Malaysia¹	Slovakia¹	Sri Lanka¹	Canada
19	Sri Lanka	Bangladesh	Sweden¹	Malaysia¹	Spain¹
20	Greece¹	Nigeria	Thailand¹	Italy¹	Sri Lanka
¹ Countries where the estimate has a standard error >25 per cent., these estimates are considered less reliable than other estimates.
Notes:
1. The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous voluntary sample survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. It covers the principal air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles.
2. This table relates solely to the IPS. IPS data form the major part of international migration. However, total international migration estimates are produced by combining migration data from the IPS, Home Office data on asylum seekers, migration data between the UK and the Irish Republic and adjustments for ‘switchers’, i.e. those whose initial length of stay intentions are not realised.
Source:
Office for National Statistics

Table 2 International migration, top 10 citizenships migrating to the UK, estimates from the International Passenger Survey, time series 1997 to 2006 in 2 year groupings
	l997-98	1999-2000	2001-02
		Estimate		Estimate		Estimate
	All citizenships	591	All citizenships	713	All citizenships	758
1	British	195	British	214	British	207
2	Australia	39	Australia	50	Australia	51
3	France	36	United States of America	31	China (Peoples Republic)	43
4	United States of America	30	China (Peoples Republic	28	India	37
5	Greece	2	France	28	South Africa	35
6	New Zealand	21	India	27	Philippines	33
7	Germany	17	South Africa	26	United States of America	30
8	South Africa	16	New Zealand	25	Germany	28
9	India	16	Germany	20	France	25
10	Malaysia	15	Pakistan	17	New Zealand	21

	2003-04	2005-06
		Estimate		Estimate
	All citizenships	945	All citizenships	1,025
1	British	183	British	169
2	India	81	Poland	109
3	China (Peoples Republic	63	India	103
4	South Africa	50	Pakistan	47
5	Australia	48	Australia	46
6	Pakistan	31	China (Peoples Republic)	45
7	France	31	South Africa	41
8	United States of America	30	United States of America	31
9	Philippines	23	Germany	26
10	Poland¹	19	New Zealand	24
¹ Countries where the estimate has a standard error >25 per cent., these estimates are considered less reliable than other estimates.
Notes:
1. The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous voluntary sample survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. It covers the principal air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles.
2. This table relates solely to the IPS. IPS data form the major part of international migration. However, total international migration estimates are produced by combining migration data from the IPS, Home Office data on asylum seekers, migration data between the UK and the Irish Republic and adjustments for ‘switchers’, i.e. those whose initial length of stay intentions are not realised.
Source:
Office for National Statistics

Table 3: International migration, estimates from the International Passenger Survey, time series 1997 to 2006, migration from the UK by citizenship, broad age group and sex: United Kingdom
	All ages	Under 15
	Persons	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females
British
1997	135	75	60	16	¹8	8	35	16	19
1998	114	60	54	13	9	¹4	20	¹9	11
1999	115	70	45	13	¹11	¹2	24	15	9
2000	141	81	60	15	¹6	¹9	26	16	10
2001	133	78	55	14	¹8	¹6	25	10	15
2002	164	90	74	¹15	¹10	¹5	33	17	17
2003	170	97	72	18	¹10	¹9	27	15	12
2004	184	90	95	16	¹7	¹10	29	15	15
2005	174	110	65	20	¹9	¹11	23	14	9
2006	196	114	83	18	10	¹9	26	15	10
Non-British
1997	97	50	47	9	5	¹4	33	19	14
1998	91	43	48	8	¹4	¹4	34	12	21
1999	130	62	68	10	¹7	¹4	42	16	26
2000	137	72	64	7	¹3	¹4	40	19	21
2001	117	57	60	7	¹4	¹3	34	15	19
2002	141	71	70	¹6	¹3	¹3	41	17	24
2003	144	68	77	11	¹7	¹4	42	13	28
2004	126	62	64	¹8	¹4	¹4	40	16	23
2005	154	78	77	¹4	¹3	¹1	50	27	23
2006	173	94	79	¹8	¹5	¹3	53	20	32

	25-44	45-59/64²	60/65² and over
	Persons	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females	Persons	Males	Females
British
1997	68	41	27	10	¹8	¹2	¹5	¹2	¹3
1998	65	34	31	¹10	¹7	¹4	¹6	¹2	¹4
1999	57	34	24	16	¹9	¹7	¹4	¹1	¹3
2000	74	44	29	22	¹14	¹8	¹4	¹1	¹3
2001	60	37	23	27	¹20	¹7	¹6	¹3	¹3
2002	77	46	31	31	16	¹15	¹7	¹1	¹6
2003	81	49	33	35	19	16	¹7	¹5	¹2
2004	84	46	38	46	21	25	¹9	¹2	¹7
2005	90	64	27	25	18	¹8	¹16	¹6	¹10
2006	98	57	41	32	22	¹9	¹22	¹9	¹13
Non-British
1997	48	22	26	¹7	¹4	¹3	¹1	—	—
1998	43	23	20	¹6	¹4	¹2	—	—	—
1999	68	33	35	¹7	¹6	¹2	¹2	—	¹2
2000	83	46	37	¹6	¹3	¹3	—	—	—
2001	70	35	35	¹5	¹2	¹2	¹1	¹1	¹1
2002	83	44	40	¹10	¹6	¹4	¹1	¹1	—
2003	85	44	41	¹5	¹3	¹2	¹1	—	¹1
2004	74	39	35	¹3	¹2	¹1	¹2	¹1	¹1
2005	85	39	45	¹11	¹8	¹3	¹4	—	¹4
2006	102	63	38	¹9	¹6	¹3	¹2	—	¹2
¹ Figures are where the estimate has a standard error >25 per cent., these estimates are considered less reliable than other estimates.
² Age groups are split above and below retirement age. This is 60 for females and 65 for males.
Notes:
1. The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous voluntary sample survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. It covers the principal air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles.
2. This table relates solely to the IPS. IPS data forms the major part of international migration. However, total international migration estimates are produced by combining migration data from the IPS, Home Office data on asylum seekers, migration data between the UK and the Irish Republic and adjustments for ‘switchers’, i.e. those whose initial length of stay intentions are not realised.

Table 4: International migration, estimates from the International Passenger Survey, time series 1997 to 2006 (calendar year), emigration of British citizens by working age¹ and previous occupation² and as a percentage of total emigration, United Kingdom
Thousand
		Aged 16-59/64¹
	All ages			Professional and managerial	Manual and clerical
	Estimate	Percentage of total emigration	Estimate	Percentage of total emigration	Estimate	Percentage of total emigration	Estimate	Percentage of total emigration
1997	135	58	113	49	58	25	27	11
1998	114	56	94	46	48	23	23	11
1999	115	47	97	40	52	21	31	13
2000	141	51	121	44	75	27	28	10
2001	133	53	111	45	59	23	31	12
2002	164	54	141	46	77	25	34	11
2003	170	54	144	46	64	20	54	17
2004	184	59	158	51	72	23	47	15
2005	174	53	138	42	81	25	38	12
2006	196	53	154	42	75	20	48	13
¹ The working age population is defined as men aged 16-64 and women aged 16-59.
² Usual occupation before migration.
Note:
1. The International Passenger Survey (IPS) is a continuous voluntary sample survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. It covers the principal air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles.
2. This table relates solely to the IPS. IPS data form the major part of international migration. However, total international migration estimates are produced by combining migration data from the IPS, Home Office data on asylum seekers, migration data between the UK and the Irish Republic and adjustments for ‘switchers’, i.e. those whose initial length of stay intentions are not realised.
Source:
Office for National Statistics

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

472 c2174-82W; 177453

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Migration

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk