Migration to and from London

Net migration plays a relatively small role in explaining the increase in population seen in London over the last decade. Other indicators on London's Poverty Profile show that the fact that there are far more births than deaths in London each year (over 57,000 more births than deaths in 2019/20) is the main contributor to London’s increasing population. In fact, net migration reduced the overall population of London by 17,000 people in 2019/20, as more people left London than moved to London.

London net migratory balance has been decreasing since 2014/15, when the capital attracted almost 50,000 new residents from elsewhere, to 2018/19 and 2019/20, years in which London lost 17,000 residents due to migratory movements. In the last decade, London has consistently had a negative balance regarding net domestic migration, as more people leave the capital for other places in the UK than vice versa, and a positive balance for net international migration, as London attracts more international new residents than leave the city every year. The change in the overall migration balance of the capital appears to be a result of a significant increase in domestic emigration (i.e. people leaving London for other parts of the UK), small increase in international emigration and small decreases in international emigration in the last five years, so that its positive international balance can no longer compensate for London domestic migration deficit.

There is great variation in terms of migration flows amongst the London boroughs, which can be explored when downloading the data file. Out of all 33 boroughs, 21 have seen negative net migration in 2019/20. Lambeth has seen more than 6,000 more people leaving the borough than entering, while on the other hand, Camden has experienced positive net migration with more than 8,000 people moving into the borough in the same year.