The pie charts illustrate the reasons for immigration to and emigration from the UK in 2007.
Overall, immigration was mainly motivated by work, study, and accompanying someone, with some unspecified reasons and other less common causes. Emigration similarly revolved around work (with non-specific employment being more common) while formal study was a less frequent motive, and ambiguous reasons were more prevalent.
Regarding study and work, 30% of immigrants arrived in the UK for specific jobs, just 1% more than those emigrating for the same reason. The gap was more pronounced for job hunting (12% for immigration and 22% for emigration), and even more notable for formal study (26% immigrating versus only 4% emigrating for educational reasons).
The percentages were relatively similar for other purposes, with 11% immigrating for other reasons and 14% emigrating, which was also the case for accompanying someone (15% and 13% respectively). Lastly, only 6% of individuals immigrated to the United Kingdom without a stated reason, while three times as many emigrated without a clear purpose.