Irregular Migration

This page presents data on irregular migration to the UK from 2018 to September 2025. This dataset includes historical data up to the last available month. For the most recent weekly data, visit the Small Boat Arrivals page.

Small Boat Arrivals #

The data below represents amount of detected individual arrivals, not amount of boats.

0 953 1,905 2,858 3,811 4,763 5,716 6,669 7,621 8,574 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2018-2025: 185,248 Brexit Fri, 31 Jan 2020 MOD Operational Command Thu, 14 Apr 2022 - Tue, 31 Jan 2023 Theresa May | - Wed, 24 Jul 2019 Boris Johnson Wed, 24 Jul 2019 - Tue, 6 Sep 2022 Liz Truss Tue, 6 Sep 2022 - Tue, 25 Oct 2022 Rishi Sunak Tue, 25 Oct 2022 - Fri, 5 Jul 2024 Keir Starmer Fri, 5 Jul 2024 Monthly Arrivals
Last sync:
Sources:
GOV.UK | Irregular migration to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2024
irregular-migration-to-the-uk-summary-sep-2025.ods | (Irr_02a)
GOV.UK | Migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats - monthly data
The MOD took operational command of responding to small boat crossings in the English Channel on 14 April 2022, this returned to the Home Office on 31 January 2023.

Small Boat Arrivals - Summary #

A total of 185,248 arrivals via small boats have been detected from January 2018 to September 2025.

2018
299
2019
1,843
2020
8,466
2021
28,526
2022
45,774
2023
29,437
2024
36,816
2025
34,087

Small Boat Arrivals - Returns #

The data below represents amount of individual returns, not amount of boats.

0 2,256 4,511 6,767 9,023 11,278 13,534 15,790 18,045 20,301 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Arrivals: 185,248 Returned: 4,995 Quarterly Returns
Last sync:
Source:
GOV.UK | Irregular migration to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2024
irregular-migration-to-the-uk-summary-sep-2025.ods | (Irr_01 & Irr_02e)

Small Boat Arrivals - Returns Summary #

A total of 4,995 enforced and voluntary returns of small boat arrivals have been recorded from January 2018 to September 2025.

2018
9
2019
128
2020
147
2021
28
2022
385
2023
2,047
2024
2,251
2025
0

Small Boat Arrivals - By Nationality #

The data below represents amount of individual arrivals, not amount of boats.

2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 Palestine South Sudan Libya Georgia Stateless Kuwait India Yemen Egypt Ethiopia Not recorded Somalia All other Turkey Vietnam Sudan Syria Albania Eritrea Iraq Afghanistan Iran 2018-2025: 185,248 450 267 494 286 1.1K 584 372 1.2K 411 1.4K 786 3.1K 1.3K 1K 1.3K 3.6K 1.2K 232 6.2K 1.3K 4K 3.6K 72 328 382 316 138 462 293 1.3K 378 508 739 697 1.6K 1.9K 3.7K 2.7K 4.7K 635 3.5K 2.1K 6.1K 4.2K 43 256 223 572 51 309 1.2K 91 810 249 1K 248 816 3.1K 1.3K 1.7K 2.3K 927 2.7K 2.5K 5.5K 3.6K 64 129 133 313 198 374 748 160 1.2K 530 200 86 1K 1.1K 505 1.8K 3K 13K 2K 4.6K 9.1K 5.8K 95 62 160 0 498 537 67 135 366 544 582 318 612 69 1.4K 1.1K 2.5K 815 2.9K 6.1K 1.4K 8.3K 62 34 28 3 389 79 64 252 53 108 0 14 427 10 118 969 776 54 511 1.6K 494 2.4K 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 48 2 3 0 14 13 0 471 69 1.2K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 0 1 16 0 33 3 238 Yearly Arrivals
Last sync:
Source:
GOV.UK | Irregular migration to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2024
irregular-migration-to-the-uk-summary-sep-2025.ods | (Irr_02b)
Nationality 20182019202020212022202320242025 Total
Iran
238
1,213
2,373
8,319
5,841
3,582
4,214
3,556
29,336
Afghanistan
3
69
494
1,437
9,088
5,511
6,065
3,986
26,653
Iraq
33
471
1,648
6,117
4,574
2,536
2,142
1,282
18,803
Eritrea
0
0
511
2,875
2,020
2,666
3,480
6,198
17,750
Albania
16
13
54
815
12,658
927
635
232
15,350
Syria
1
14
776
2,451
3,006
2,275
4,693
1,209
14,425
Sudan
0
0
969
1,064
1,762
1,658
2,748
3,596
11,797
Vietnam
4
3
118
1,403
505
1,306
3,657
1,269
8,265
Turkey
0
2
10
69
1,127
3,058
1,944
1,009
7,219
All other
4
48
427
612
1,025
816
1,625
1,328
5,885
Somalia
0
0
14
318
86
248
697
3,094
4,457
Not recorded
0
0
0
582
200
1,036
739
786
3,343
Ethiopia
0
5
108
544
530
249
508
1,364
3,308
Egypt
0
1
53
366
1,233
810
378
411
3,252
Yemen
0
0
252
135
160
91
1,300
1,243
3,181
India
0
0
64
67
748
1,214
293
372
2,758
Stateless
0
2
389
498
198
51
138
1,071
2,347
Kuwait
0
2
79
537
374
309
462
584
2,347
Georgia
0
0
3
0
313
572
316
286
1,490
Libya
0
0
28
160
133
223
382
494
1,420
South Sudan
0
0
34
62
129
256
328
267
1,076
Palestine
0
0
62
95
64
43
72
450
786

Small Boat Arrivals - By Age/Sex #

The data below represents amount of individual arrivals, not amount of boats.

0 4,459 8,919 13,378 17,837 22,297 26,756 31,215 35,675 40,134 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Male Female Unknown Yearly Arrivals
Last sync:
Source:
GOV.UK | Irregular migration to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2024
irregular-migration-to-the-uk-summary-sep-2025.ods | (Irr_02c)
Sex Age Group 20182019202020212022202320242025
male 17 and under
16
207
1,089
3,347
6,400
4,312
4,306
2,914
male 18 to 24
39
264
1,785
9,035
14,774
9,067
11,252
9,562
male 25 to 39
185
919
3,840
11,059
15,993
9,727
13,593
13,644
male 40 and over
33
164
669
1,448
2,767
1,725
2,204
2,202
male Total
273
1,554
7,383
24,889
39,934
24,831
31,355
28,322
female 17 and under
9
101
360
925
1,671
938
1,124
1,010
female 18 to 24
2
24
141
533
970
756
1,216
1,470
female 25 to 39
14
125
427
1,224
2,200
1,441
1,872
2,037
female 40 and over
1
39
155
297
580
413
509
460
female Total
26
289
1,083
2,979
5,421
3,548
4,721
4,977
unknown 17 and under
0
0
0
49
90
3
0
0
unknown 18 to 24
0
0
0
11
65
10
0
1
unknown 25 to 39
0
0
0
10
49
9
1
1
unknown 40 and over
0
0
0
6
15
0
0
0
unknown Total
0
0
0
76
219
22
1
2