Origin and Destination of Migrants
Last Updated: April 2018
In the year to mid-2017, 47,600 migrants came to Scotland from the rest of the UK (1,300 more than in 2016) and 37,100 left Scotland for the rest of the UK (400 fewer than in 2016), resulting in positive net migration of 10,500. This is higher than the comparable figure in 2016, where 8,800 more people arrived from the rest of the UK than left.
In the year to mid-2017, 32,900 people migrated to Scotland from overseas and 19,500 people left Scotland and moved overseas, resulting in positive net migration of 13,400. While this is still positive in-migration, it is lower than net migration in mid-2016 when 22,900 more people migrated from overseas to Scotland, than left. This was due to a decrease of 7,500 in-migrants from overseas and an increase of 2,000 out-migrants compared to the previous year. These changes suggest that the results of the 2016 EU referendum may be a factor in people's decision to move to or from the UK – but decisions to migrate are complex and other factors are also going to be influencing the figures.
Migration to and from the rest of the UK and overseas, 1995-96 to 2015-16
Sources: National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) patient movements, Personal Demographic Service (PDS) patient movements, Long-Term International Migration estimates from the Office for National Statistics