Net migration accounted for 96 per cent of Britain's population growth last year
Net international migration accounted for 98 per cent of Britain's population growth last year.
Of the total 227,700 increase, 222,900 were due to more people arriving than leaving the country.
The UK's population reached an estimated 69.5 million, according to the latest figures.
The overall growth rate of 0.3 per cent was the slowest recorded since mid-2020.
Natural change, the gap between births and deaths, added just 4,900 people to the population, underscoring how migration has become the dominant driver of demographic expansion nationwide.
Arrivals to the UK totalled 886,200 in the 12 months to mid-2025, a steep fall from the 1,296,500 recorded in the preceding year.
Departures rose over the same period, with 663,400 people leaving to live abroad for at least a year, up from 644,800.
The combined effect was a dramatic reduction in net migration, which dropped from 651,700 to 222,900, a decline of nearly two-thirds.
The main factor behind the fall was a sharp decrease in non-EU nationals coming to the UK for work, according to the Office for National Statistics' long-term international migration bulletin.
Britain recorded just 652,400 births during the period, the fewest in more than four decades, down 9,700 from the year before.
GB News previously explored the reasons behind Britain's baby bust, with experts blaming economic, cultural and political factors for the lows.
The Centre for Social Justice's policy director Edward Davies previously told the People's Channel: "People are starting to wake up to the fact that a low birth rate will have profound consequences for the UK in the decades ahead."
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Miriam Cates, former Conservative MP and advocate for increasing Britain's birth rates, also argued the nation's future depends on Britons "having enough children to sustain our society and economy into the future".
Deaths simultaneously climbed to 647,500, an increase of 1,600 from the previous 12 months.
The resulting natural change of only 4,900 people was lower than the prior year, although it marked a return to positive territory after the population shrank through natural change in the year to mid-2023.
With fewer than 5,000 more babies born than people dying, the figures lay bare how close the UK has come to the point where its population would shrink without inward migration.
England's population grew by 0.4 per cent, accounting for most of the UK's overall growth.
Scotland and Northern Ireland each saw negligible increases of less than 0.1 per cent, while Wales was the only nation to register a decline, with its population falling by 0.1 per cent.
The statisticians cautioned the Welsh and Scottish figures could be revised in either direction once more complete data become available, given how marginal the changes were.
Across all four nations, international migration contributed positively to population numbers, even as natural change dragged figures down in both Wales and Scotland.
GB News has approached the Home Office for comment.
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