UK has 'biggest migration spike' of developed world

Net population grew by 750,000 in 2023 despite Brexit

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

Britain saw a bigger increase in net migration last year than any other developed economy, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has said.

In a blow to Brexiteers, who promised the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union would bring down net migration, the OECD said Britain had a bigger spike than 28 other economically advanced countries.

The UK’s population grew by a record 750,000 in 2023, a 52.9 per cent increase on the net migration figure a year earlier, it said. It meant the flow of immigrants into the UK grew more quickly than the United States, Germany, Canada, France, Australia and Japan.

Only the US’s net migration total was higher, 500,000 more than Britain despite having a population almost five times as large. The country with the second biggest percentage spike in migration in 2023 was Korea, which added 87,000 people.