More left UK than arrived in 2002
Up to 125,000 people left the United Kingdom to live elsewhere within the European Union in 2002, according to official figures published today.
Fears of a mass influx of migrants into the UK have been growing ahead of the EU’s expansion to 25 nations this Saturday.
The latest British Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that 125,000 people left the UK while 89,000 came in, the highest migration to the EU in the decade to 2002.
There were 46,000 new residents from the Rest of Europe, a region which includes all the European states currently outside the EU, and 28,000 from this region who left the UK.
The 10 new EU countries are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Malta.
Migrants are defined as those who are leaving their homelands for at least a year,
An estimated 513,000 migrants entered the UK in 2002 while 359,000 left.
In November the ONS forecast that 153,000 more people arrived to live in the UK for at least a year in 2002 than left to live elsewhere.
This net in-migration was lower than the 172,000 estimated for 2001 and the 163,000 estimated for 1999 and 2000 respectively.
Outward-bound migrants expected to stay abroad longer than those travelling into the UK, the ONS found.
People aged 25 to 44 made up half of all arrivals and departures in 2002.
Australia, the US, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and Pakistan were popular choices for people leaving the UK.
There were 53,000 people who left for Australia, 37,000 went to the US, 18,000 left for New Zealand, 13,000 headed for Canada, 10,000 went to South Africa, 7,000 went to Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and 4,000 headed for Pakistan.
UK arrivals from migrants from these nations included 40,000 from Australia, 28,000 from the US, 13,000 from New Zealand, 9,000 from Canada, 27,000 from South Africa, 36,000 from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and 10,000 from Pakistan.
Of those migrants arriving from the New Commonwealth, 26% were accompanied another person or came to join someone in the UK, compared with only 17% of those from the EU and 8% of those from the Old Commonwealth, according to the ONS International Passenger Survey (IPS).
In addition 70% of UK-born migrants returning to live in the UK had been abroad since 1998. All the others had lived abroad for more than four years.
Just over half of all departing migrants were born outside the UK and many were returning to their country of birth.
The IPS covers the main air, sea and channel tunnel routes between the UK and the rest of the world, and includes details of the travellers' age, sex, marital status, citizenship and country of last or next residence.
