According to research by academics at the University of Warwick, of the 525,000 people in the top 1% of the UK’s earners, each earning more than

£128,000, 24% moved to the UK as adults. Migrants make up 15% of the UK’s population.

Arun Advani, assistant professor at the University of Warwick’s economic department and the lead author of the paper, said that the research suggested that people who were concerned that migration was a drain on the UK economy, were not considering the impact of high earners who move to the UK.

He said: “A lot of worried about migrants are about the bottom end of the distribution. But, actually, migrants are hugely prevalent at the top of the income distribution - and therefore paying more tax.”

Furthermore, in the top 0.001% of the UK’s earners, almost four in ten are migrants. This is almost three times as many that would be expected if incomes were distributed evenly.

According to the data, among low-income groups, around one in six are migrants, The Guardian reports. 

Mr Advani said he had suspected that migrants would be over-represented among high-earners as many non-UK born people work in finance, technology and medicine. However, he was shocked at the scale of the imbalance.

He said: “There are 52% more migrants in the top 1% in 2018 than in 1997, and more than twice as many in the top 0.01%.”

The paper has revealed that almost all (85%) of the growth in the UK top 1% income share over the last 20 years can be attributed to migration.

The data shows that four in ten of the best-paid bankers in the UK are migrants, earning an average of £383,300 before tax. Just under 40% of the highest-paid staff at UK hospitals are migrants, averaging £160,3000. In “web portal” employment, 51% of the best-paid staff are migrants, averaging £259,700.

Mr Advai added that the research could prove important as politicians debate a “wealth tax” to help pay for the UK’s recovery from COVID-19. He said that a new tax on higher earners could lead to many leaving as they “often have less to tie them to the UK than people who were born here”.