Channel crossings by migrants in small boats: Key numbers
Afghan migrants accounted for the single largest group of arrivals in the first nine months of the year.
Here are some of the key statistics for people who have arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats:
– How many migrants have arrived so far this year?
A total of 33,684 people have been detected crossing the Channel in small boats since the start of 2024, according to provisional figures from the Home Office.
This is 18% higher than the 28,453 people who had arrived at this point (up to December 1) last year, but 24% lower than the 44,174 arrivals at this stage in 2022.
Some 45,774 arrivals were reported across the whole of 2022: the highest for a calendar year since data on Channel crossings began in 2018.
The total for 2023, 29,437, was more than a third (36%) lower.
More than 20,000 migrants have now crossed the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.
Some 122 migrants were detected making the crossing on Sunday, which means 20,110 have arrived since Labour won the general election on July 5.
The 20,000 figure was passed on the 150th day of Sir Keir’s premiership.
By contrast, 11,309 migrants arrived during the first 150 days of Rishi Sunak’s premiership, with 20,000 not reached until Mr Sunak’s 257th day in office.
– How many people are making the crossing per boat?
The average has been on an upwards trend since the start of 2021.
In 2018 there were fewer than 10 people per boat while in 2019 and 2020 the figure tended to fluctuate between single figures and the high teens.
From 2021, the average started to increase, reaching 20 in March and passing 30 in August.
It reached 40 people per boat in June 2022, passed 50 per boat in July 2023 and climbed as high as 59 per boat in July 2024.
The figure has since fallen slightly to 55 per boat in August, September and October of this year, and 54 in November.
– Where have the people come from?
Afghan migrants accounted for the single largest group of arrivals in the first nine months of this year, at 17% of the total.
This is followed by people from Vietnam (13%), Iran (12%) and Syria (12%).
These are the latest figures available for the nationality of arrivals.
The breakdown of nationalities this year is different to that for 2023.
Vietnamese migrants accounted for only 5% of last year’s total, well below this year’s figure of 13%.
Afghan was the leading nationality in 2023, responsible for 19% of all arrivals, slightly higher than this year’s figure of 17%.
In 2022, Vietnam accounted for just 1% of arrivals and Afghanistan was responsible for 20%, while the main nationality was Albanian, which accounted for 28% of the total.
By contrast, only 2% of arrivals in January to September this year were Albanian.
– Why has the mix of nationalities changed?
Following the spike in summer 2022 in the number of Albanians arriving in the UK on small boats, the governments of both countries struck an agreement to work together to prevent people from making the journey.
This included placing UK Border Force staff in Tirana airport in the capital of Albania, an exchange of senior police officers and the creation of a joint migration task force.
It is likely this contributed to the large drop in Albanians arriving by small boats, down from 12,658 in 2022 to 927 in 2023: a fall of 93%.
In response to this year’s jump in arrivals of Vietnamese nationals, in April 2024 the then Conservative government signed an agreement with Vietnam to step up efforts to discourage illegal travel to the UK.
The two countries committed to develop a joint action plan to tackle human trafficking, as well as increase intelligence-sharing and raise awareness of legal routes for migration.
The mix of nationalities of people arriving on small boats has varied from year to year.
For example, Iranians and Iraqis together accounted for more than half of arrivals in 2021 (30% and 22% respectively).
But since then the proportion of arrivals who are from Iran has dropped sharply, to 13% in 2022 and 2023 and 12% in January to September 2024.
The proportion of arrivals from Iraq has fallen even lower, dropping to 10% in 2022, 9% in 2023 and 7% in the first nine months of this year.
All figures are based on the total number of arrivals where nationality has been recorded by the Home Office.
– How many have applied for asylum?
The latest available Home Office data for asylum claims by small boat arrivals runs to September 2024.
It shows that in the year to September 30 2024, almost all arrivals (99%) made an asylum claim, either as a main applicant or dependant.
Small boat arrivals accounted for nearly three in 10 (28%) of the total number of people claiming asylum in the UK in this period.
There were 128,503 asylum applications from small boat arrivals between January 2018 and June 2024, of which 48% (62,313) had received an initial decision as of October 11 2024.
Of these, 43,464 had been granted asylum or some other protection status, while 18,849 were refused.
The asylum grant rate for the year to September 2024 varied considerably for different nationalities.
Among the top 10 most common nationalities, the grant rate was highest for applications from Syrians and Sudanese (both 99%) and Eritreans (93%), and lowest for Albanians (2%) and Turks (23%).
– How many have been returned to their country of origin?
Some 4,420 migrants who arrived by small boat were returned between January 2018 and September 2024, 3% of the total number of arrivals.
In the year to September 2024, 2,376 arrivals were returned, up from 1,551 in the previous 12 months.
Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of small boat returns in the year to September were Albanian nationals.
– How many migrants have died while trying to cross the Channel?
Some 50 deaths have been recorded so far this year by French coastguard authorities.
These are people who are believed to have died while attempting to cross the Channel in a small boat.
A further 22 migrants believed to be heading for the UK have died in northern France and Belgium, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration.
