article_snippet.sent: Official figures, released in February by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show there was a net flow of 298,000 migrants to UK in the year to September last year, equal to the population of a city roughly the size of Nottingham and up from 210,000 in the previous 12 months.
article_snippet.sent: The increase in net migration was driven by a 'statistically significant' rise in immigrants arriving in the UK - up to 624,000 in the year to September 2014 from 530,000 in the previous 12 months.
article_snippet.sent: Around 327,000 people emigrated from UK in the same period.
article_snippet.sent: The figures also revealed there were significant increases in immigration of non-EU citizens - up 49,000 to 292,000 - and European Union citizens - up 43,000 to 251,000.
article_snippet.sent: Experts flagged another statistically significant increase in Romanian and Bulgarian citizens arriving in the UK - up to 37,000 from 24,000 in the previous 12 months.
article_snippet.sent: Of these, 27,000 were coming for work, a rise of 10,000 on the year ending September 2013, the ONS added.
article_snippet.sent: Around 271,000 people came to UK for work, up 54,000 on a year earlier, while immigration for study rose from 175,000 to 192,000.
article_snippet.sent: Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said at the time: 'UK job growth is likely to be a key factor behind the recent increases. '
article_snippet.sent: Rising work-related migration from outside the EU the EU has also contributed.'
article_snippet.sent: Downing Street said the rise in immigration was driven in part by Britain's economic success relative to the rise in immigration neighbours in the eurozone.