Channel crossings by migrants in small boats: Key numbers

Vietnamese migrants accounted for the single largest group of arrivals in the first six months of the year.

Channel crossings by migrants so far in 2024 are 16% higher compared with this point last year, but 22% lower than at this stage in 2022 (Gareth Fuller/PA) (PA Wire)

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 31,094 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 16% higher than the 26,699 arrivals who had arrived at this point (up to November 3) last year, but 22% lower than the 39,929 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.

This figure has already been passed in 2024.

The number of arrivals in October this year, 5,417, was the highest for a single month since October 2022 (6,900).

– 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.

– Where have the people come from?

Vietnamese migrants accounted for the single largest group of arrivals in the first six months of this year, at 17% of the total.

This is followed by people from Afghanistan (15%), Iran (12%) and Syria (11%).

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 17%.

Afghan was the leading nationality in 2023, responsible for 19% of all arrivals, slightly higher than this year’s figure of 15%.

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 1% of arrivals in January to June 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 to 12% in January to June 2024.

The proportion of arrivals from Iraq has fallen even lower, dropping to 10% in 2022, 9% in 2023 and 7% in the first six 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 June 2024.

It shows that in the year to June 30 2024, almost all arrivals (99%) made an asylum claim, either as a main applicant or dependant.

Of the 27,012 asylum applications from arrivals in this period, 25,876 (96%) were awaiting an initial decision at the time the data was compiled in mid-July.

Just 177 applications (1%) had received an initial decision, of which two were granted refugee status or another form of leave to remain in the UK.

There were 105,966 asylum applications from small boat arrivals between 2018 and June 2024, of which 47% (49,912) had received a substantive decision as of July 16 2024.

Of these, 35,398 had been granted asylum or some other protection status, while 14,514 were refused or not considered on third country grounds – a grant rate of 71%.

– 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 11 migrants believed to be heading for the UK have died in northern France and Belgium, according to the UN International Organisation for Migration.