More than 30,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2024, including 20,000 since Labour came to power.
Small boat arrivals made up about a quarter of total UK asylum applications, which increased to 99,700 people, in the 12 months to September.
How many people cross the Channel in small boats?
As of 1 December, 33,684 people had crossed the Channel in small boats in 2024.
Of those, 20,110 arrived since Labour won the July general election, underscoring the scale of the political challenge facing Sir Keir Starmer’s government.
The number of crossings for the year to date is higher than in 2023, when 29,437 people arrived during the whole year.
However, the highest recorded figures are for 2022, when 45,755 people made the crossing.
Since 2018, when figures were first recorded, more than 147,800 people have arrived on small boats.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has promised to use counter-terrorism tactics to stop people-smuggling gangs.
He said the UK’s new Border Security Command (BSC) would trace suspected human traffickers and shut down their bank accounts.
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How many people die crossing the Channel?
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, tracks the number of people who die crossing the Channel.
It says that more than 50 people have died in 2024, the highest for any year since it started recording figures in 2014.
The IOM says that at least 234 migrants died attempting to cross the English Channel between 2018 and 29 November 2024, including 126 known to have drowned.
Its figures include people who were travelling to a crossing point and died in other circumstances, such as car crashes or as a result of medical issues.
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Who is crossing the Channel in small boats?
In the year to September 2024, almost 5,000 Afghans crossed the Channel.
Iranians were the second largest group, followed by people from Syria, Vietnam and Eritrea.
Where recorded, more than 80% were male. About 40% were between 25 and 39 years old.
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How many people seek asylum in the UK?
More than 99,700 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending September 2024, Home Office figures show.
Applications peaked at about 103,000 in 2002, as people fled conflicts in Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq.
Claims then fell sharply, dropping to a 20-year low of 22,600 in 2010. However, numbers rose again throughout the 2010s, as refugees fled Syria.
Asylum applications have risen sharply in recent years, more than doubling from 45,318 in the year to September 2021 to 92,776 just one year later, followed by smaller increases since then.
Where do UK asylum seekers come from?
In the year to September 2024, the largest number of asylum seekers came from Pakistan, with more than 9,500 applications.
Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria, and India were among the other countries with most applications.
Ukrainian refugees who came to the UK after Russia’s invasion of their country are not included in the figures.
As at 26 November 2024, 266,300 visas had been issued to Ukrainian refugees, who came through legal routes set up by the UK government.
There are separate arrangements for a few other specific groups, such as some Afghan refugees and Hong Kong citizens.
How many asylum cases are waiting to be processed?
Some people wait months or even years for their claims to be considered.
At the end of September 2024, there were 97,170 cases relating to 133,409 people awaiting an initial decision.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to clear older claims by the end of 2023. However, 4,500 “complex cases” were still awaiting a decision at the end of December that year.
There were 1,669 of these cases remaining at the end of September 2024.
How many asylum seekers does the UK send back?
The Home Office can remove people with no legal right to stay in the UK, or refuse to let them enter.
In the year to the end of September 2024, 8,519 people who were not granted asylum were returned to their home country.
This is up 52% on the same period in 2023, mainly because of a rise in people being returned to Albania.
Between 2018 and September 2024, there were 4,420 returns of people who came to the UK in small boats – about 3% of arrivals.
How do UK small boat arrivals compare with those to Europe?
There have been more than 170,000 arrivals by sea in Europe during 2024, with Italy receiving about 36% of those. Greece and Spain also received large numbers.
In 2023, there were 263,000 arrivals by sea in Europe.
How many people apply for asylum across Europe?
The UK had the fifth highest number of people claiming asylum in the EU and European Economic Area in the year ending June 2024.
Germany received the largest number, with 319,710 applicants.
Spain had the second highest number (163,755) followed by France (163,190) and Italy (158,560).
In 2023, the UK government made initial decisions on 93,303 asylum applications – including people attached to them such as children or other dependents – and granted more than two thirds of them (67%).
In the same period, Germany made 217,430 asylum decisions, and granted 62%.
France – a country with a similar-sized population to the UK – made 132,695 decisions, and granted 31% of them.
