- Provisional data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published today shows net migration totalled 431,000 in 2024
- Numbers are beginning to trend down thanks to the previous government’s reforms, but remain extraordinarily high by historical standards
- Net migration between 2021 and 2024 totalled 2.65 million, representing population growth of 3.9%
- The latest figure of 431,000 is nearly double the average seen throughout the 2010s and would have been a record-breaking figure in any year before 2021
- England’s housing stock grew by 908,000 homes in the four years to March 2024, but net migration alone created demand for an additional 925,000 homes on top of that
Responding to new data released by the Home Office and Office for National Statistics, CPS Research Director, Karl Williams said:
‘The public will be relieved to see net migration finally trending downward, but today’s figures of 431,000 remain extraordinarily high by any historical measure. This would have been a record-breaking figure in any year before 2021 and is nearly double the average we saw throughout the 2010s.
‘In the four years since the previous Conservative government introduced reforms aimed at reducing migration, net migration has totalled 2.65 million, representing population growth of 3.9%. This means 1 in 25 people currently in the country arrived here in the last four years.
‘We know that in the four years to March 2024, the housing stock in England grew by around 908,000 homes. However, in order to accommodate recent record-breaking levels of immigration, we should have built 1.83 million homes just to keep up.
‘While the previous government’s reforms are beginning to show results, these figures demonstrate exactly why last week’s Immigration White Paper simply does not go far enough. The reforms the Centre for Policy Studies has long advocated – including annual Migration Budgets, caps on specific routes voted on by parliament, and reforming the Home Office – are needed to bring the numbers down, returning to a level of migration that works for the economy and which the public can support.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Karl Williams is Research Director at the Centre for Policy Studies
- CPS research on migration include ‘Taking Back Control: Why Britain needs a better approach to immigration’, ‘Net Migration and Housing’, and ‘Stopping the Crossings
- For further information and media requests, please contact Melisa Tourt on 07399 251110 and [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, housing, immigration, and energy abundance, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Thursday 22nd May 2025
