The number of EU workers in the UK hit a record high of 2.1 million people at the end of September, including 219,000 Romanians and Bulgarians, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday, citing official data.

For the first time the number of workers from Bulgaria and Romania has exceeded 200,000 – also a record for the UK. The two countries both joined the EU in 2007. Britain lifted all employment restrictions on the citizens of the two countries from the start of 2014 to comply with EU law.

There were about 300,000 workers from other EU countries in the UK at the end of September, an increase of 16% year on year, which is the largest annual rise since records began in 1997.

The number of Bulgarian and Romanian workers in the UK increased by 30,000 in a year, reaching 219,000 at end-September, according to data from the UK  Office for National Statistics.

Between end-July and end-September, the number of workers from the eight former Communist countries, which joined the EU in 2004, reached 982,000 - an increase of 200,000 in two years and another record.

The largest increase, however, was reported among the "old EU” member states such as Greece, Italy and Spain. The flow of citizens from those 14 states rose by about a fifth in the year to end-September, reaching 881,000 - the highest since records began in 1997.