The UK is set to go to the polls on the 8th of June for a snap general election, and it’s no surprise that Brexit is dominating the debate. We’ve talked to a number of EU citizens currently living in the UK, and they are understandably concerned about their status – with the current UK government so far refusing to provide any meaningful guarantees. So we thought we would take a look at how many migrants from each EU country are currently living in the UK and vice versa. You can check out our findings in the interactive map and chart below. Just hover over a country to see the figures.
The Takeaways
- In 2015, the total number of EU citizens living in the UK was estimated at 3,325,000 (ONS)
- In the same year, the total number of UK citizens living in other EU countries was estimated at 1,217,500 (UN)
- There were only 4 countries where the number of British expats outnumbered those living in the UK: Cyprus, France, Luxembourg and Spain.
- The number of fins living in the UK is the same as the number of brits in Finland (approximately 7,000)
- Over 25% of EU citizens living in the UK are from Poland (883,000 of 3,325,000)
Where We Got The Data
The figures for EU citizens living in the UK were taken from a 2015 Office of National Statistics report titled ‘Labour Force Survey’.
The figures for UK born people living in the EU were taken from a 2015 report from the UN titled ‘Trends in International Migrant Stock: Migrants by Destination and Origin‘.
While neither set of figures can claim to be 100% accurate, they are considered to be the best estimations currently available. Credit to Migration Watch UK for the methodology.