THE number of EU citizens living in Oxford has fallen by around 8,000 since the Brexit referendum, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Migration academics put this trend down to the uncertainties surrounding the UK's departure from the European Union, and the weaker pound.

Data shows that the number of EU migrants living in the area fell from 22,000 in 2016 to 14,000 in June.

This is contrary to the trend across the UK, where the number of European citizens rose by 9% after the vote.

In June, European citizens accounted for 8.8 per cent of Oxford's total population, compared to an average of 5.7 per cent for the United Kingdom.

The number of migrants from non-EU countries living in Oxford rose, from 17,000 in 2016 to 25,000 in June.

The estimates are based on the Annual Population Survey (APS). They count EU citizens living at private addresses and students in halls of residence whose parents live in the UK.

Students with parents living abroad or migrants living at communal establishments, like hotels or hostels, are excluded.

All the numbers were rounded by the ONS to nearest thousand.

The ONS estimates more than 3.7 million EU citizens were living in the UK in June.