Young workers are leaving Britain because of high taxes. In the year to June, a net 110,000 Britons aged 16 to 34 emigrated. This was two thirds of all Britons who left the country.
The Office for National Statistics shared this data by age for the first time. It shows Britain's ageing society is losing young people. At the same time, older Britons are coming back home.
Among 16 to 24-year-olds, 87,000 left. And 87,000 aged 25 to 34 also left. Only 63,000 from these groups returned.
Many blame Labour government's tax rises. Finance minister Rachel Reeves made big changes. National Insurance went up. The minimum wage increased too. This makes hiring young workers more expensive.
Youth unemployment is now 15 percent. That is the highest in ten years, not counting the pandemic. Over 700,000 young people are out of work.
After the Budget, young people face higher student loan payments. They might pay rent that is more expensive. And they start paying income tax sooner.
Many young Britons go to Australia. Its youth unemployment is under 10 percent. Britons now take the most working holiday visas there. Numbers rose 80 percent.
Some go to Europe or the Middle East. Places there have easier rules for remote work. Young people work online without the right visas sometimes.
Older Britons return more than they leave. Ages 55 to 64 had net 7,000 coming back. Over 65s had 11,000.
Net migration for all people fell to 204,000 in the year to June 2025. That is much lower than 649,000 last year. It is the lowest since 2021.
More EU citizens left than arrived. For example, 37,000 Romanians left but only 14,000 returned. 25,000 Poles left but 7,000 came back.
Non-EU migration is still high at 383,000. Many young men aged 16-24 come to study.
Almost all of the 112,000 net loss of Britons is from under-35s. This is bad news for the government despite lower overall migration.