Cardiff bucks ‘brain drain’ trend as youngsters flock to the city
CARDIFF saw a massive influx of young people last year while most areas of Wales saw more leave the area than move there, new data has revealed.
Against the backdrop of concerns over a Welsh “brain drain”, with some young people choosing to seek jobs and opportunities elsewhere, these numbers help us see where in Wales is feeling the impact most.
Figures now released by the ONS show the net migration (the number of people moving to an area, minus the number moving away) to and from Welsh local authorities in the year 2021-22.
While there are limits to what a year of data can tell us, it gives a good impression of the areas where young people are choosing to live. Cardiff saw net migration figures for young people (15 to 29-yearolds) of 3,279.
In Powys, Conwy, Carmarthenshire and the Vale of Glamorgan, net migration figures were below minus 400, meaning 400 fewer young people moved there than left. Powys has seen the biggest drop, with 1,548 young people arriving but 2,098 leaving.
Outside of Cardiff and Swansea, only three local authorities saw net positive migration among young people.
This data only measures migration between Wales and the rest of the UK, however, so it’s not a good yardstick for where in Wales is attracting immigration from around the world, nor the rate at which young Welsh people are moving to other countries.
But if someone moves from Wrexham to Pembrokeshire they’ll still show up as a -1 for Wrexham and a +1 for Pembrokeshire, so as well as telling us whether people are leaving Wales for another part of the UK, the data helps us see where in Wales the opportunities are for young people.
Net migration figures don’t always tell the full story, either. Ceredigion, for instance, saw more young people arrive than leave (a net figure of 390), but had a high turnover with 2,842 leaving (the sixth-most in Wales) and 3,232 arriving. Wales’ biggest cities in Cardiff and Swansea saw high numbers of young people leave, but far higher numbers arriving – possibly reflecting their student populations and the number of jobs there for young people.
In December, we reported on the full extent of the Welsh “brain drain” as figures showed Wales had the lowest population growth of any UK nation between 2011 and 2021, while the number o f 15 to 64-year-olds in Wales actually fell by 2.5% in those 10 years.
We spoke to Awen Edwards, originally from Bangor in Gwynedd, who said she moved to London because of “the opportunities you get... that comes down to work and the type of work you can get here.”
She continued: “With my social life I feel there’s more opportunities to get to know like-minded people... people are around the same age as you and have the same sort of goals.”
The picture is a complex one – with London especially appealing to Awen above other English cities due to a strong Welsh community.
When it comes to net migration for people of all ages, Newport lost out the most with an overall figure of -402.
Wrexham was the only other area in the minus numbers with -114.
Carmarthenshire, meanwhile, had the highest overall figures with a net gain of 1,563 people last year.