Number of EU nationals in the United Kingdom 2019-2020

In 2020 there were approximately 815 thousand Polish nationals living in the United Kingdom, the most of any European Union member state. Additionally, there were 404 thousand Romanians, and 321 thousand Irish nationals living in the UK in this year. Luxembourg was the EU member state with the fewest citizens living in the UK, at just 520a year earlier in 2019. In terms of British nationals living in the EU, Spain was the most popular destination, at almost 285 thousand, followed by France and Germany, which had British populations numbering 145 and 110 thousand respectively.

The Brexit effect?

Although they were the most numerous non-British nationality in 2020, the Polish population of the United Kingdom has actually declined since it peaked in 2017, when it was just over 1 million. This is likely a consequence of the Brexit vote in 2016, which has had the effect of driving down migration from the EU, although during the same period, the Romanian population of the UK grew slightly, indicating other factors probably contributed to the fall in Britain’s Polish population.

Net migration peaks in 2015

Between 1980 and 2019 the United Kingdom’s net migration figure grew from negative 55 thousand to 226 thousand, with net migration peaking in 2015 when it reached 343 thousand. At around the same time, ‘immigration’ was also selected as the most important issue facing the United Kingdom, by almost quarter of British people. From 2016 the issue of ‘Brexit/EU’ overtook ‘immigration’ as the most important issue to Britons, before ‘pandemics and diseases’ overtook it in 2020.