How many people cross the Channel in small boats and how many claim asylum?

A man thought to be a “major supplier” of boats and engines to gangs smuggling people across the Channel has been arrested in Amsterdam.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the arrest, following an operation between UK, Dutch and Belgian police, was a “significant piece of the jigsaw” in tackling Channel crossings.

• ‘Major supplier’ of people-smuggling boats arrested

As of 11 November, 32,900 people had crossed the Channel in 2024.

In 2023 as a whole, 29,437 people came to the UK in small boats.

In 2022, a total of 45,755 made the crossing – the highest since figures were first collected in 2018.

Since 2018, more than 147,000 people have come to the UK on small boats.

Sir Keir has promised to use counter-terrorism tactics to stop people-smuggling gangs “before they act”.

He said the UK’s new Border Security Command (BSC) would “treat people smugglers like terrorists”, using enhanced powers to trace suspected human traffickers and shut down their bank accounts.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, has been tracking the number of people who have died crossing the Channel since 2014.

It says that more than 50 people have died in 2024, the highest for any year since it started recording figures.

The IOM says that at least 214 migrants died attempting to cross the English Channel between 2018 and 12 November 2024, including 107 known to have drowned.

In November 2021, at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank, the most fatalities recorded in a single incident since 2014.

The IOM’s figures also 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.

In the year to June 2024, Afghans were the nationality most often recorded crossing the Channel.

Iranians were the second largest group, followed by people from Eritrea, Vietnam and Turkey.

More than 80% of small boat arrivals in the 12 months to June 2024 were male.

Where age was recorded, about 40% were between 25 and 39 years old.

The total number of people claiming asylum in the UK was just over 97,000 in the year to the end of June 2024.

The number of annual applications for asylum – including dependants – 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.

In 2022, the number of applications reached almost 100,000 again.

In the year to June 2024, the largest number came from Afghanistan, with more than 9,300 applications.

Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh 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 5 November 2024, 265,300 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.

Some people wait months or even years for their claims to be considered.

At the end of June 2024 there were 85,839 cases relating to 118,882 people awaiting an initial decision.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to clear older claims by the end of 2023, but 4,500 “complex cases” were still awaiting a decision at the end of December.

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 June 2024, 7,190 people who were not granted asylum were returned to their home country. This is up 48% on 2023, mainly because of a rise in people being returned to Albania.

Between 2018 and June 2024, 3,788 people who came to the UK in small boats were returned – 3% of arrivals in that period.

In 2023, there were 263,000 arrivals by sea in Europe, with Italy receiving 60% of those.

Spain received 57,000 people and Greece 41,500.

As of 10 November 2024, more than 157,000 people had arrived into Europe via the sea, since the start of the year.

The UK had the fifth highest number of people claiming asylum in Europe, in 2023.

With 329,000 applicants, Germany received more than a quarter of all first-time asylum applicants within the EU.

Spain had the second highest number (160,500) followed by France (145,000) and Italy (130,500).

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.