The number of people working in the UK who were citizens of EU-14 countries (that is, countries that joined the EU before 2004, such as Germany and Spain), was no longer smaller than the number of those born in EU-14 countries, as it had been in previous years. Among the UK’s population as a whole, the number of foreign citizens tends to be smaller than the number of people born abroad, mainly because after staying for some years many foreign nationals ‘naturalise’ and become British citizens. The ONS has produced detailed statistics examining this issue based on 2011 census data.</p> <p>The Migration Observatory received a number of requests to explain why this was not the case for people from EU-14 countries (that is, why the number of EU-14 citizens working in the UK was not smaller than the number of EU-14 born) – and specifically, whether EU citizens who were born outside of the EU were driving the trend. This commentary looks at recent trends in EU migration and the countries of birth of EU migrants living here.

Publication details and link to source: The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, ‘Recent trends in EU nationals born inside and outside the EU’, July 2015.