Guidance

NINo allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK: background information and methodology

Updated 27 February 2025

About these statistics

This document provides information about the methods and quality assurance steps used to produce the National Insurance numbers (NINo) allocated to adult overseas nationals statistical release in accordance with practices set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

National Insurance number is sometimes shortened to NINo in this document. The release only contains statistics relating to adult overseas nationals who register for a National Insurance Number.

Release schedule

The NINo statistics are released on a quarterly basis in February, May, August and November. They are always released on the last Thursday of the relevant quarter unless the last Thursday is on a week with a bank holiday, in which case they will be released on the Thursday of the previous week. Statistics are published at 9.30am on the day of release.

The NINo release forms part of a cross-government release of migration statistics, details of which can be viewed via the Government Statistical Service.

Purpose

The NINo statistics cover all adults allocated a NINo for any type of work, including those who are self-employed and students working part-time, irrespective of their length of stay in the UK (including short-term).

Sourced from a 100% administrative dataset, the value of the statistics are in the robustness of counts down to individual nationality and for each Local Authority (LA) (based on address at point of NINo registration). Personal characteristics such as gender and age band are also published via Stat-Xplore.

A time-series of NINo statistics on Stat-Xplore (covering back to January 2002) is supported by a quarterly statistical bulletin. The statistics provide counts of people who register for a NINo and their nationality by local area.

Method of release

Statistics are published on this collection page where links can be found to the latest and previous statistical bulletins. A full time series of the data can be viewed via Stat-Xplore.

Background Information

What is a National Insurance number?

In the UK a National Insurance Number (NINo) is required for people to:

• work
• claim state or housing benefits
• apply for a student loan
• vote in local or national elections
• pay Class 3 voluntary National Insurance contributions

A NINo is a unique personal reference number that links an individual with their records of National Insurance contributions, social security benefits, tax payments and student loans. Whilst the NINo is a unique personal number in isolation it is not proof of an individual’s identity, immigration status, right to work in the UK, nor does it confer entitlement to benefits. For more information see Data Journey.

Limitations of the statistics

Users of these statistics should be aware of the following limitations:

• the registration date represents the date when the NINo was registered on the source system, meaning, after the NINo application and allocation process has been completed. This may be a number of weeks or months after arriving in the UK, and therefore, the data cannot be used as a specific measure of arrival date to the UK. See Data Journey and Data Extraction sections for more information

• there is no requirement, when allocating a NINo, to establish how long the individual intends to remain in the UK. The NINo statistical data does not measure outflow or overall count of overseas nationals in the UK. The data does not show if, or when, overseas nationals subsequently depart the UK, nor does it show length of stay in the UK. Therefore, these statistics should not be used alone as a measure of migration to the UK

• statistics are based on nationality at the point of NINo registration, subsequently people may change citizenship to become British nationals. Current citizenship is not shown within these statistics

• individual NINo registrations are only counted once. NINo data does not include overseas nationals who had previously registered for a NINo and then returned to the UK after a spell abroad – for example, seasonal workers

• NINo data does not include partners or family members unless they subsequently go on to register for a NINo

• the figures reflect adult overseas nationals allocated a NINo through the adult registration process. In addition, there will be a small number of overseas nationals (aged 16 to 19 years) allocated a NINo through the Juvenile Registration scheme. This occurs when the individual has previously been allocated a child registration number. These juvenile cases are not captured by the statistics – nor are children

• for some nationality sub-groups seasonal patterns in the number of registrations are visible in the quarterly figures. However, these are often heavily disrupted by various changes to policy, operations and other events such as COVID-19. Seasonal effects can also be suppressed at levels of data higher than individual nationalities, due to different countries having different seasonal patterns

• the NINo statistics report only the volume of new NINo registrations. Information on subsequent activity against NINo in the form of employment, benefit, tax credits, NI contributions and tax are not available from this source

• individuals who were British Overseas Territory citizens by connection with Hong Kong were able to register their nationality as British Nationals Overseas (BNO) prior to 1997, and those who did not register as a BNO and had no other nationality or citizenship became BNOs in July 1997, and therefore, may apply for a NINo with their nationality as BNO. The National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS), which is the HMRC source for the NINo statistical data, does not currently have the functionality to record a country code for BNO, therefore these registrations are recorded as ‘unknown’ in the statistical extract (migrant workers scan) provided to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). As a result, individuals from Hong Kong who have their nationality as BNO will therefore appear as ‘unknown’ nationality in our published statistics. For more information about the NPS and Migrant Workers Scan (MWS) see Data Journey.

EU exit

The Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 ended free movement between the EU and the UK on 31 December 2020 and the Future Relationship Act 2020 came into force, launching the new Points Based Immigration System.

The EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 established a cohort of citizens to whom the EU’s Regulations will continue to apply after the end of the Transition Period. This includes UK nationals living or working in the EU, Europe Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland at the end of the Transition Period, while they continue to live or work in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living or working in the UK at the end of the Transition Period. That cohort consists of anyone who remains in scope of the relevant categories covered in Title III of the Withdrawal Agreement. Subject to entitlement to benefit and “UK competency”, an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen who returns to an EU state, EEA state or Switzerland, will be able to continue export for as long as they remain in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) determines which state’s social security legislation applies, ensures that an individual is only subject to a single state’s legislative regime at any one time, determines where contributions are due and which state is responsible for the payment of various social security benefits following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020. The TCA provides for people who look to move between the UK and the EU from 1 January 2021 for work or retirement, where they are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, meaning in some areas there is no change.

The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a long-standing arrangement between the UK, the Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Ireland that pre-dates both British and Irish membership of the EU and is not dependent on it.  Under the CTA, British and Irish citizens can move freely and reside in either jurisdiction and enjoy associated rights and privileges, including the right to work, study and vote in certain elections, as well as to access social welfare benefits and health services.

Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EEA and Swiss nationals face different migration regimes, depending on when they entered the UK.  Access to benefits depend on their arrival time in the UK:

• EEA and Swiss nationals in the UK before the end of the Implementation period (31 December 2020) have protected rights under the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’ through the EU Settlement Scheme. Therefore, these individuals do not see a change to their benefit access. Those protected by the withdrawal agreement who have not yet acquired permanent residence rights – if they had not yet lived in the UK for at least five years – were able to continue residing in the UK and acquire permanent residence rights after accumulating five years of residence

• EEA and Swiss nationals arriving from 1 January 2021 are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and will have no recourse to public funds for the first five years like non-EEA migrants; the new points-based immigration system will apply to this group. Those arriving to join family members of EEA and Swiss nationals who were in the UK before January 2021 will not be impacted by the measure

Introduction of new operational service for NINo application: Apply for a NINo (AfN)

The Apply for a NINo service was introduced in the latter of 2020, but only made available to those with a visa (non-EU nationals) who received access to the service via an invitation. By December 2020, EU nationals could access the service, but the number of applications remained restricted. These restrictions were lifted in April 2021, when ‘Apply for a NINo’ was launched.

Suspension of NINo statistics between November 2021 until February 2023

This statistical series was suspended from the November 2021 release until February 2023 due to the identification of an underlying data issue which affected the provision of data sourced from the His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS) for statistical purposes.

When the issue was resolved the first release to be published was in February 2023 and this contained a complete historic set of statistics from 2002 to December 2022, covering the period when the statistics were suspended.

Although the data issue was rectified, it was not possible to obtain some information from the NPS for the period from 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022 which resulted in a small increase in the number of registrations with an unknown nationality for the period from 1 July to 16 August 2022. Because some statistical data from the NPS could not be obtained from 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022 information was obtained from DWP Customer Information System (CIS). While the registration data from CIS is robust it doesn’t capture the same detailed information that is available from NPS and that is used in the recording of nationality. Consequently, there is a small increase in the number of registrations with an unknown nationality for the period 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022.

Data Journey

NINo statistics are sourced from 100% administrative data processed via the DWP NINo Operations Team. The statistical data is sourced from HMRC.

NINo Allocation Process

How are National Insurance Numbers allocated?

A NINo is allocated to an individual either via HMRC’s Juvenile Registration scheme, or via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service provided by the DWP. Some NINos are also allocated to applicants who have been granted a visa by the Home Office.

HMRC provides UK residents with a NINo, via the Juvenile Registration scheme, in the 3 months to their 16th birthday, if they lived in the UK and a parent has filled out a Child Benefit form for them. Individuals between the age of 16 to 19 years’ who fulfil these criteria and have not received their NINo are usually asked to contact HMRC.

Individuals aged 19 years or over for whom child benefit was not claimed, or lived abroad and returned to the UK as adults will need to apply for a NINo via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service. Non-UK adult overseas nationals that move to the UK must apply for a NINo via the same service if they plan to work, apply for a student loan, or claim benefits. Alternatively, a subset of NINos are allocated to applicants who have been granted a visa by the Home Office. Both of these NINo applications are processed by DWP’s NINo application centre.

The majority of UK residents are allocated a NINo via the Juvenile Registration scheme and only a small number obtain their NINo via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service. The Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service mainly affects adult non-UK overseas nationals who have a legal right to move to the UK and require a NINo for reasons outlined above.

The administrative data generated from the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service is analysed to produce the quarterly statistical publication on National Insurance Numbers Allocated to Adult Overseas Nationals.

The administrative data which underpins this publication is the (MWS) and it is sourced from the HMRC National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS).

Once the NINo application has been made the DWP operational team conduct relevant checks to corroborate the identity of the applicant and their right to work/right to reside. They also carry out checks to make sure that a NINo does not already exist on DWP systems. Once the checks have been completed a decision is then made to allocate a NINo in the AfN system.

This then triggers the creation of a NINo record, which automatically populates the relevant DWP and HMRC systems – (CIS and NPS). For more information about these systems see the section on Operational Data Systems.

NINo Applications and Identity Verification

Apply for a NINo (AfN) is a digital NINo application service where users can apply for a NINo online. AfN was launched on Gov.uk in April 2021, following a trial phase from October 2020 to March 2021, and the number of applications remained restricted. These restrictions were lifted in April 2021, when Apply for a NINo was launched on Gov.uk.

AfN replaces the previous NINo Application process which required the majority of applicants to attend an “Evidence of Identity” appointment at specified Jobcentre Plus offices. Although some applicants are still required to attend an identity verification appointment, for the majority of applicants, DWP agents are now able to corroborate identity and right to work by conducting checks against other government department systems, removing the need for a face-to-face appointment.

AfN service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Most users can complete their application in around 15 minutes, and this includes uploading copies of their identity and right to work documentation. DWP agents process the applications and once the Decision Maker has successfully conducted all the necessary checks and is satisfied that no NINo already exists, a NINo is allocated.

See further information on the NINO application process.

A subset of NINos are allocated to applicants who have been granted a visa by the Home Office. Their identities and right to work in the UK are verified during the visa process by the Home Office and lists of successful skilled worker visa applicants and refugees are sent directly to DWP’s NINo application centre on a daily basis. Agents in DWP manually create records on DWP and HMRC systems and return the NINo to the Home Office.

At DWP’s NINo application centres, NINo applications are processed individually. Staff are fully trained and supported by clear guidance in making a decision when allocating a NINo.

As part of the NINo application processing DWP staff enter the information into both the NPS and CIS data systems.

Operational Data Systems

Customer Information System (CIS)

Customer Information System (CIS) is a cross-government data system owned by DWP. It is a data store holding personal details for all DWP customers and is used to share data across other DWP systems and to other authorised government departments for the purposes of social security legislation and other legislative requirements.

NPS (National Insurance & PAYE System)

NPS (National Insurance & PAYE System) is a HMRC system, playing a pivotal role in the processing of data for National Insurance (NI), Income Tax (PAYE) and State Benefits through the DWP. 

NPS supports online services to HMRC and DWP staff as well as online services to customers for pension forecasting and for PAYE Digital Platform.

The NPS is a large and complex system regarded as the master of the citizen data for HMRC. It comprises of several component products which are developed and supported by Accenture on behalf of HMRC. 

Statistical Data used for Publication: MWS

The main statistical data extract used for the NINO publication is the Migrant Workers Scan (MWS). This data is provided quarterly and is a data extract containing specific fields which are required to source the NINo statistics release. See the statistical data section below for more information. The MWS extract is delivered electronically by HMRC using a single file transfer (SFT) method. HMRC use their NPS system to extract this data on a quarterly basis. Each quarterly MWS data extract contains all NINO’s registered to adult non-UK nationals since 2002 up to the extraction date.

Initial Data Checks on the MWS data by the DWP data receipt team

When the MWS data is received into DWP, the data receipt team perform several steps:

• initial quality assurance checks are performed, for example volume counts, format checks and checks for missing information. If the format of the fields is not what is set out in the original data specification, for example if a record contains a character instead of a number, then the data will fail to load into the DWP statistical software data systems

• personal identifiers are removed from the data, for example postcodes are replaced with Census Output Areas (COA) and the National Insurance number is encrypted

Once initial checks have been performed and personal identifiers removed or encrypted the MWS data is made available to the DWP statistical team that produces the NINo Statistics publication.

Statistical Team Processes

When the DWP statistics team receive the data extract they perform thorough quality assurance processes to make sure the data is accurate and fit for purpose before appending the data to a frozen historic timeseries dataset, which was used to publish the previous releases. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that the historic timeseries data matches what is previously published and only the latest quarters data is updated. There is very little retrospective changes on the MWS data extract. See the methodology section for more detail.

The Quality Assurance (QA) processes on MWS and the NINo Statistics by the statistics team are detailed later in this document.

A summary of the QA processes that the statistical team perform on the data are as follows:

• comparison of the data with previous data extracts and management information data. Further checks for missing or erroneous values are also carried out
• merge/append the latest quarter data to a frozen timeseries dataset
• geography information is allocated by matching the Census Output Areas (COA) information on the MWS data with the ONS National Statistics postcode look-up files (NSPL) to allocate region information. If the COA is missing on the MWS data extract the statistical team would look to obtain the COA information from the DWP’s Customer Information System (CIS). See methodology section for more information

Statistical Data Extraction Information

Governance

The provision and transfer of the migrant workers scan (MWS) statistical extract data from HMRC to DWP is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding. This sets out both the legal basis for the transfer of data, the security arrangements within departments to handle the data, and the transfer mechanisms by which data is shared. The document also shows the DWP Business Case through which data is accessed and a description of the variables included in the scan data structure section below. 

MWS Data structure

The MWS data extract from HMRC contains the following fields:

Field	Note
NINo	National Insurance Number
Address and postcode	As held on HMRC NPS at time of data extraction
Arrival date in UK	As reported by the individual
NINo registration date	Date NINo was created on HMRC NPS system
Gender	Male/female
DOB	Date of Birth
Nationality	It is taken from the identity document presented during the application process

Note: The date of arrival in the UK as reported on the data scan is self-reported. The NINo publication does not include arrival date in the reported statistics.

Information such as personal characteristics on ethnicity, qualifications, immigration status and economic activity are not available directly from the data source as this information is not required to process a NINo application.

Methodology

On receipt of the MWS data scan from HMRC and prior to publication, the data would be subject to a number of methodological processes and QA checks.

Data encryption and masking

The data received from HMRC is classified as unmasked; it contains unencrypted NINo and full address including postcode. In order to comply with DWPs data protection policy, the NINo is encrypted, and the address and postcode are removed and replaced with a COA, a process called geocoding.

Geocoding

Each record in the MWS is put through a data cleansing procedure, which ensures all postcodes are formatted correctly and the address fields are populated correctly. Each record is allocated a 2011 COA using the NSPL (ONS National Statistics Postcode Look up file), starting with a direct postcode to COA lookup and then working through a logical address allocation routine. Higher levels of geographies are built based on the assigned COAs.

From the February 2023 release we have improved our geography allocation method. Previously cases which existed in the data with missing COAs (approx. 5%) were randomly allocated a COA entry, but they are now labelled as having an unknown address at the point of registration and the historic timeseries has been updated to consistency.

Additionally, from the February 2023 publication, a matching process has been implemented whereby, for all new registrations where the postcode is missing from the MWS scan or does not match to a COA in the geography file, an attempt is made to try and find an address via DWP’s Customer Information System (CIS). By matching with CIS, we found approximately two-thirds of cases with a missing address on the MWS are in fact ‘abroad’ when they register. These are likely NINo registrations that apply via the Home Office route, whereby a UK postcode is not needed upon application.

Until November 2018, data had been published using geographies based on Census 2001 Output Areas (2001COAs) by matching to the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) file, and the number of randomly allocated cases was around 2 to 3 percent. From February 2019, data is published under Census 2011 Output Areas (2011COAs) based geographies by matching to the National Statistics Postcode Look-Up file (NSPL).

For further information on changes to 2011 COA based geographies across DWP benefit statistics please see DWP statistical geographies in national and official statistics.

For more details please see guidance from ONS about census geographies (including links to further information about the changes from 2001COAs to 2011COAs) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency’s online Small Area Look-up Tables and Guidance Documents.

Retrospection

Registrations from the latest reporting quarter are extracted from the MWS data and appended to a frozen timeseries statistical dataset, that includes all the historic series (starting from January 2002). Using this frozen dataset ensures that the historic already published data is not subject to change.

Nationality at point of NINo registration

The nationality variable is quality checked for completeness. Any registrations recorded with a nationality that no longer represents an existing country are reclassified to reflect the most appropriate nationality at the time of publication. For many registrations, this is reclassifying the nationality to the successor state (for example, East Germany to Germany). However, for nationalities which represent countries which underwent dissolution into multiple nations (for example the USSR), each entry has a nationality randomly reclassified in line with the proportion of individuals who have registered from the new countries that used to make up the former country.

NINo registrations over state pension age

The MWS extract has been improved from July 2021 and now includes everyone from overseas who registers for a NINo that is over state pension age. Although these numbers are small, caution should be taken when observing historic trends as prior to July 2021 the MWS did not capture everyone over State Pension age.

Disclosure control

Introduced random error (perturbation) is used in Stat-Xplore and the statistical bulletin to ensure that no data are released which could risk the identification of individuals in the statistics.

The introduced random error method applied to the data has been updated and from the November 2024 release there will be a small impact on already published historic figures due to this change. This update was necessary to enable a move to a more advanced data processing platform to maintain data confidentiality.

For further detail on perturbation methodology please see Stat-Xplore data confidentiality.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Initial Data checks

Statisticians have close working relations with HMRC, DWP data loading team and DWP NINo application/policy teams to make sure that the MWS data is received on time and is accurate.

When the MWS data is received into DWP initial checks are carried out by the data loading team to ensure the data is accurate and fit for purpose:

• caseload counts are done, as well as checks on field format/sizes, as if the data does not match the original data specification it will not load correctly

When the data is loaded into SAS (analytical software package) DWP statisticians perform the following quality assurance checks:

• comparison of current quarters’ NINo registrations caseload with the caseload from previous quarters
• comparison of current quarters’ NINo registrations caseload with monthly Management Information (MI) of NINo registrations from DWP NINo application team
• Frequency counts conducted against all of the fields contained in the data to check volumes against previous quarters
• checks to ensure no erroneous values/formats entered
• checks to look at daily distribution of new quarter’s data via “Date of NINo Registration”, as daily gaps not expected unless on a weekend or bank holiday
• checks to identify how many cases were unable to be matched to an address

If oddities exist, statisticians work with HMRC, DWP data loading team and DWP NINo application centre/policy team to provide context to any changes, or resolve issues, and subsequently repeat the quality assurance checks on any new and corrected data.

Quality Assurance of Statistical Data

When the checks are completed on the data which has been loaded into SAS, DWP statisticians run a sequence of data steps in SAS to create a final statistical dataset which is then used to source the published figures released via the bulletin and Stat-Xplore.

The various data steps perform tasks such as assigning lower-level geographies from Census Output Areas (COAs).

The data checks of the statistical data carried out by DWP statisticians include:

• checks for any unexplained and unusual changes in trends within each data variable (for example nationality, region, Local Authority)
• historical trend comparisons with quarterly and year to date data
• high level comparisons against other government department publications which also use MWS data

Quality Assurance of Statistical Products:

Following production of the Accredited Official Statistics outputs, all publication material and data outputs are quality assured by someone else in the statistical production team. The outputs and processes are also quality assured, and peer reviewed by a limited group of experts that have authorised Pre-Release Access (PRA) for the purpose of quality assuring the statistics. These QA and peer review activities are fully documented in a QA log.

The following activities are all part of the QA and peer review process:

• all SAS code involved in the production and QA process is checked for correct updates and error-free processing logs
• new sections of code are fully peer-reviewed, with related outputs independently recreated (often manually) and compared to the previous versions
• new data is checked against historic series for consistency and validation of views from the producer
• All stories and commentaries are checked for consistency with the statistics they refer to
• titles (including those of visualisations and tables), dates, statements and footnotes are checked to ensure they reflect the correct statistics and related times
• all products are spell and grammar checked
• graphs and tables are checked for data accuracy, technical aspects and presentation standards

Following completion of the QA and peer reviewing process the publication is presented to and signed-off by the Head of Profession for Statistics.

Quality Statement

Read a full quality report for the NINo statistics.

Information about the Statistical Bulletin

Statistical release rounding policy

The following rounding policy has been applied to the statistical bulletin. Please note that all changes are calculated prior to rounding. Percentage changes are calculated prior to rounding and then are rounded to the nearest whole number. As all figures within the statistical summary have been rounded, they may not add up.

From	To	Rounded to nearest
0	1,000	10
1,001	10,000	100
10,001	100,000	1,000
100,001	1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001	10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001	100,000,000	1,000,000

Key historic events are shown in graph labels used in the bulletin

Label on graph	Description
2004 – EU8 joined the EU	May 2004 - EU8 countries joined the European Union (EU), enabling freedom of movement for citizens of these countries to live, study or work anywhere in the EU
2010 – Eurozone debt impact EU14	2009 to mid 2010 - A debt crisis  took place in the European Union from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus) were unable to repay or refinance their government debt, or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties e.g, other eurozone countries.
2014 – Lifting of transitional controls for EU2	January 2007 - , Romania and Bulgaria (the EU2) joined the EU. Transitional controls on movement to the UK were lifted in January 2014
2016 – EU referendum	EU referendum (commonly known as BREXIT referendum) took place on 23 June 2016 in the UK to ask the electorate whether the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union. As the majority voted to leave, the UK left the EU on the 31 January 2020, with the transition period ending on 31 December 2020.
2018 – Adult dependants of VISA applications	August 2018 - Individuals with long-term family members caring for them in UK eligible for visa.
2020 – Covid-19	From March 2020, Covid-19 travel restrictions were implemented, and operational processes for applying for a NINo were impacted
2020 – End of EU free movement	December 2020 - Free movement between nationals from any European Union member state and the UK ceased at 11pm on 31 December 2020, as it was not incorporated in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement or the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Please Note: The graphs used in the statistical bulletins are plotted using quarterly year-end totals. For time point descriptions, where the event does not fall on a plotted quarter, the time point has been plotted at the quarter preceding the event, prior to the effect of the change.

World Area reporting structure – subgroups and nationalities

World region	Sub group	Nationality
Asia	East Asia	China
Asia	East Asia	Hong Kong
Asia	East Asia	Japan
Asia	East Asia	Macau
Asia	East Asia	Mongolia
Asia	East Asia	North Korea
Asia	East Asia	South Korea
Asia	East Asia	Taiwan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Afghanistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Bahrain
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Iran
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Iraq
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Israel
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Jordan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kazakhstan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kuwait
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kyrgyzstan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Lebanon
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Oman
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Qatar
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Saudi Arabia
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Sharjah
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Syria
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Tajikistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Turkmenistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	United Arab Emirates
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Uzbekistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Yemen
Asia	South Asia	Bangladesh
Asia	South Asia	Bhutan
Asia	South Asia	British Indian Ocean Territory
Asia	South Asia	India
Asia	South Asia	Maldives
Asia	South Asia	Nepal
Asia	South Asia	Pakistan
Asia	South Asia	Sri Lanka
Asia	Southeast Asia	Brunei
Asia	Southeast Asia	Burma
Asia	Southeast Asia	Cambodia
Asia	Southeast Asia	East Timor
Asia	Southeast Asia	Indonesia
Asia	Southeast Asia	Laos
Asia	Southeast Asia	Malaysia
Asia	Southeast Asia	Philippines
Asia	Southeast Asia	Sabah
Asia	Southeast Asia	Sarawak
Asia	Southeast Asia	Singapore
Asia	Southeast Asia	Thailand
Asia	Southeast Asia	Vietnam
European Union	European Union EU15	Austria
European Union	European Union EU15	Belgium
European Union	European Union EU15	Denmark
European Union	European Union EU15	Finland
European Union	European Union EU15	France
European Union	European Union EU15	Germany
European Union	European Union EU15	Greece
European Union	European Union EU15	Ireland
European Union	European Union EU15	Italy
European Union	European Union EU15	Luxembourg
European Union	European Union EU15	Netherlands
European Union	European Union EU15	Portugal
European Union	European Union EU15	Spain
European Union	European Union EU15	Sweden
European Union	European Union EU2	Bulgaria
European Union	European Union EU2	Romania
European Union	European Union EU8	Czech Republic
European Union	European Union EU8	Estonia
European Union	European Union EU8	Hungary
European Union	European Union EU8	Latvia
European Union	European Union EU8	Lithuania
European Union	European Union EU8	Poland
European Union	European Union EU8	Slovakia
European Union	European Union EU8	Slovenia
European Union	European Union Other	Croatia
European Union	European Union Other	Cyprus
European Union	European Union Other	Malta
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Albania
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Andorra
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Armenia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Azerbaijan
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Belarus
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Bouvet Island
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Faroe Islands
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Georgia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Greenland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Iceland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Liechtenstein
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Macedonia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Moldova
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Monaco
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Norway
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Russia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	San Marino
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Serbia & Montenegro
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Switzerland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Turkey
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Ukraine
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Vatican City
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Anguilla
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Antigua
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Antilles (Netherlands)
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Argentina
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Aruba and Curaçao
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bahamas
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Barbados
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Barbuda
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Belize
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bermuda
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bolivia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Brazil
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Cayman Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Chile
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Colombia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Costa Rica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Cuba
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Dominica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Dominican Rep
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Ecuador
Rest of the World	Central and South America	El Salvador
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Falkland Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	French Guiana
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Grenada
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guadeloupe
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guatemala
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guyana
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Haiti
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Honduras
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Jamaica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Martinique
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Mexico
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Montserrat
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Nicaragua
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Panama
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Paraguay
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Peru
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Sint Maarten (Dutch Part)
Rest of the World	Central and South America	South Georgia & South Sandwich Island
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Kitts and Nevis
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Lucia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Pierre & Miquelon
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Vincent & Grenadines
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Suriname
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Trinidad & Tobago
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Turks & Caicos Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Uruguay
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Venezuala
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Virgin Islands (British)
Rest of the World	North Africa	Algeria
Rest of the World	North Africa	Egypt
Rest of the World	North Africa	Libya
Rest of the World	North Africa	Mauritania
Rest of the World	North Africa	Morocco
Rest of the World	North Africa	Sudan
Rest of the World	North Africa	Tunisia
Rest of the World	North Africa	Western Sahara
Rest of the World	North America	Canada
Rest of the World	North America	Puerto Rico
Rest of the World	North America	United States
Rest of the World	North America	Virgin Islands (USA)
Rest of the World	Oceania	American Samoa
Rest of the World	Oceania	Antarctic Territories (British)
Rest of the World	Oceania	Australia
Rest of the World	Oceania	Christmas Island
Rest of the World	Oceania	Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Cook Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Fiji
Rest of the World	Oceania	French Polynesia (inc. Tahiti)
Rest of the World	Oceania	French Southern Territories
Rest of the World	Oceania	Heard Island & McDonald Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Micronesia (Sub Region)
Rest of the World	Oceania	New Caledonia
Rest of the World	Oceania	New Zealand
Rest of the World	Oceania	Niue
Rest of the World	Oceania	Norfolk Island
Rest of the World	Oceania	Papua New Guinea
Rest of the World	Oceania	Pitcairn
Rest of the World	Oceania	Samoa
Rest of the World	Oceania	Solomon Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tokelau
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tonga
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tuvalu
Rest of the World	Oceania	US Minor Outlying Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Vanuatu
Rest of the World	Oceania	Wallis & Futuna
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Angola
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Benin
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Botswana
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Burkina Faso
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Burundi
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cameroon
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cape Verde
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Central African Republic
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Chad
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Comoros
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Congo
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Congo (Democratic Republic)
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Djibouti
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Equatorial Guinea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Eritrea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ethiopia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Gabon
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Gambia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ghana
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Guinea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Guinea-Bissau
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ivory Coast
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Kenya
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Lesotho
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Liberia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Madagascar
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Malawi
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mali
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mauritius
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mayotte
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mozambique
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Namibia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Niger
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Nigeria
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Reunion
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Rwanda
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Sao Tome and Principe
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senegal
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Seychelles
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Sierra Leone
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Somalia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	South Africa
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	St Helena
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Swaziland
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Tanzania
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Togo
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Uganda
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Zambia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Zimbabwe

Status of the Statistics

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the OSR in November 2020. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

This outcome is the result of work undertaken by the statistics team responsible for the publication to address a list of recommendations set out in in their judgement in January 2017, when the OSR temporarily suspended the accreditation of these statistics having concluded they no longer complied with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The 2017 assessment of the statistics focused on eight requirements which DWP was to address to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and considered more broadly how the statistics meet the three pillars of the Code of Practice for Statistics: Trustworthiness, Quality and Value and with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Key developments include:

• introduction of quarterly data in the narrative (It should be noted that from the February 2023 release we have changed the reporting narrative again to focus on annual data, this is to provide the user with a wider view of historic events which will encompass changes since the break in reporting when the statistics were suspended due to an underlying data issue)
• a thorough quality report
• detailed methodology note and data journey
• new user engagement strategy
• new publication strategy
• move to HTML and a more accessible release

OSR sets the standards of Trustworthiness, Quality and Value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly by email cbm.stats@dwp.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the Office for Statistics Regulation website.

Other Government Department Migration Statistics

ONS release the following publications which are UK estimates of long term migration ‘Long-term international migration, provisional Statistical bulletins’.

Furthermore, the categorisation of nationalities in the ONS release was changed in November 2024, from EU to EU+. The widening of this group includes all EU countries, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

In the NINo statistics, these countries remain in the ‘Non-EU Other Europe’ category. It should be noted that although both NINo statistics and ONS ‘Long-term international migration, provisional bulletins’ both use the MWS data, they are non-comparable as the focus of the ONS release is on long term migration.

The GSS brings together information from across government on migration statistics into an experimental dashboard, which is regularly updated.

User Engagement

Understanding user requirements is crucial to ensure the NINo publication is relevant to users and that developments to the statistics meet user needs. Users’ views on the NINo statistics are sought in the following ways:

• Email DWP statistical production team cbm.stats@dwp.gov.uk
• Email through the Stat-Xplore dissemination tool Stat.Xplore@dwp.gov.uk
• DWP user group meetings held quarterly, organised by the DWP statistical team
• wider Government Statistical Service (GSS) migration user groups, organised by the ONS
• Parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests relating to NINo statistics – responses were published in Hansard and on the DWP statistical Freedom of Information page

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed by email to: cbm.stats@dwp.gov.uk

Users are invited to comment on the development and relevance of these statistics.

DWP is also making use of improving technology to better understand and improve the users experience of:

• the NINo release collection page
• downloads of the statistical release
• usage of Stat-Xplore and the most popular queries
• the technology that users employ (desktops, mobile phones, laptops)
• the type of users accessing data

Please feedback to help the statistical team improve the way these statistics are disseminated.

Useful Links

This document, the statistics release and supporting tables and further documentation can be accessed through the collection page.

Press enquiries should be directed to the DWP Press Office.

Build your own tables using Stat-Xplore.

Further information on the NINo application process.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-250-7