Net migration to the UK in the year to December 2022 was higher than previously thought, hitting a new record of 745,000, according to revised estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
However, the figure for the year to June 2023 is estimated to be lower, at 672,000.
The ONS said it is too early to tell if this is the start of a new downward trend but that the most recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration coupled with increasing emigration.
The previous estimate for the year to December 2022 had been 606,000, but the ONS has since revised this upwards in light of “unexpected patterns” in the behaviour of migrants.
Maggie Morgan from the ONS said: “Our most recent migration statistics are always provisional and supported by assumptions around whether we think people will stay 12 months or more.
“We are responding to changes in a highly volatile world and our revisions reflect the unexpected patterns arising from that unpredictability. This will continue to influence our measures of uncertainty.”