A free site that shows official figures on UK migration and population as faces you can play with. It is for anyone who wants to see what the numbers say and make up their own mind.

Headcount is an independent project. It is not run or paid for by any government body, political party, campaign or company, and it carries no advertising. It has no named author. Every figure links to its source, so you can check it yourself.

Mostly the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Home Office, with a cross-check from the Department for Work and Pensions. Every answer shows its source underneath, and the full list is at the bottom of the page. Where no official figure exists, a few independent research estimates are shown and labelled as such.

As far as the official figures allow. The Home Office counts people it detects arriving by illegal routes, such as small boats, and almost all small boat arrivals ask for asylum. If they ask for asylum and stay a year or more, the ONS counts them among the people who moved to the UK. There is no official count of how many people live here without permission. The Home Office says it is not possible to know the exact number, so the site shows independent estimates for that.

Immigration is people who moved to the UK to live for at least a year. Emigration is people who left the UK for at least a year. Net migration is immigration minus emigration.

Yes. British citizens coming back after a year or more abroad count as people who moved to the UK, and British citizens leaving for a year or more count as people who moved away.

The latest year is a first estimate. The ONS revises its figures as more records come in. The How sure? section shows how much they have moved. The next update is due on .

Each face stands for 1,000 people. In All years, the years from 2012 are added up, so each face stands for 1,000 arrivals and the same person can count more than once. In Play, every year from 1964 stays in the pile, so each face stands for 1,000 arrivals or 1,000 departures and the same person can count more than once. Running totals stay separate by method. A row under 1,000 people shows part of one face, drawn to scale. Faces get a nationality from the ONS figures where it lists one, and otherwise from Home Office asylum claims, resettlement figures and visas, a sex and age that follow the ONS figures for new arrivals, and a look that follows the 2021 Census mix of ethnic groups for people born in that country. In Play before 2012, moved-here faces take the site's estimate from the 2021 Census mix for people by when they arrived, and show no sex or age. In Play, moved-away faces show no sex or age: the site has no ONS age and sex figures for people who left. British citizens use the mix for everyone living in England and Wales, EU citizens use the mix for people living in England and Wales born in the EU, other citizens use the mix for people living in England and Wales born outside the UK and the EU, and before 1975 non-British citizens use the mix for people born outside the UK. When faces line up to answer a question, each row shows the people it names, so small boat, asylum and resettlement rows follow Home Office figures for nationality, sex and age. Some looks are assumptions. British citizens take the mix for everyone in England and Wales, EU faces with no named nationality the mix for everyone in England and Wales born in the EU, and faces with no known nationality or no census figures of their own the mix for everyone in England and Wales born outside the UK and the EU. They are an illustration, and no face stands for a real person. The full method is below the sources.

No. It shows published figures, says where each one comes from and how sure it is, and leaves the judgement to you.

It counts visits, clicks and searches with Google Analytics, to see which figures people look for. It is set up with no cookies, no advertising features and no Google signals, and Google Analytics does not store IP addresses. Searches are recorded as typed, cut to 50 characters, so please don't type personal details into the search.

It counts taps on Insightful, guesses and visits to the page, and keeps them as totals. A total shows only once it reaches a set level, such as 25 taps. It stores no names and sets no cookies. A guess is kept only as one more tally of too high, too low or within 10%, never the number you chose. To stop repeats counting more than once, the server also keeps scrambled codes made from your network address and what you tapped or guessed, using a key that changes every day. It deletes them within a day. Your browser remembers which answers you marked Insightful, on your device only.

Yes. Download every figure as CSV or JSON. Official figures are published under the Open Government Licence, so please credit the original source.