The number of British citizens moving from the UK to the Netherlands increased sharply in 2019 ahead of the Brexit deadline, according to new figures from Dutch national statistics agency CBS.

Emigration from Britain has been going up steadily since before the Brexit vote in June 2016, the CBS said. At the same time, fewer Dutch nationals are moving to the UK.

In 2019, 2,600 Dutch nationals moved across the Channel to Britain, the lowest total in 20 years. Taking returnees into account, the net increase in Dutch people moving to the UK amounted to just a few hundred, the CBS said.

By contrast, 6,700 British nationals moved to the Netherlands, a 60% rise on 2015. There was also an increase in the number of British people returning to the UK, taking the net increase in the British population of the Netherlands to 3,600.

In total over 90,000 first and second generation British nationals now live in the Netherlands.

There was also a rise in the number of other migrants moving from Britain to the Netherlands – mainly Polish, Spanish, Italian and French nationals. In terms of other nationals moving from the Netherlands to the UK, Somalis were the largest group, the CBS said.