Nigeria Leads in the Highest Number of Dependents by International Students in the UK

Nigeria has taken the lead in the highest number of dependents brought in by international students into the United Kingdom (UK) over the past four years.

A new UK government report said the number of such dependents from Nigeria rose to 60,506 at the end of September 2023.

According to the report, the number of dependents accompanying Nigerian students to the UK rose from 1,427 in 2019.

With the figure, the report says Nigeria had overtaken India which has 43,445 as of the end of last month.

Also, the report says Nigeria has the third-highest number of international students studying in the UK.

The report also revealed that 486,107 persons from India, China, Nigeria, the United States, and Pakistan migrated to the UK for study purposes at the end of September 2023.

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India topped the list, followed by China, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United States respectively among the five countries mentioned.

However, out of the countries, Pakistan had the highest percentage increase, of up to 33 percent to 33,150 at the end of September 2023.

Indian nationals in the year ending September 2023, a small increase of 5,804 (+5%) compared to the year ending September 2022 but their numbers are now nearly 5 times higher than in the year ending September 2019, the report said.

Indian nationals accounted for over one-quarter (27%) of all sponsored study grants to main applicants in the latest year.

Chinese nationals were the second most common nationality granted sponsored study visas in the year ending September 2023, with 108,978 visas granted (22% of the total).

Grants to Chinese nationals decreased by 7% compared to the preceding year. Chinese and Indian nationals together comprised half (50%) of all sponsored study grants.

Nigerian nationals were issued 51,071 sponsored study visas in the year ending September 2023, similar to the previous year but around 8 times the number in the year ending September 2019.