Irregular Migration

This page presents data on irregular migration to the UK from 2018 to 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: 192,633 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 | Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2025
illegal-entry-routes-to-the-uk-summary-dec-2025-tables.ods | (IER_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 192,633 arrivals via small boats have been detected from January 2018 to 2025.

2018
299
2019
1,843
2020
8,466
2021
28,526
2022
45,774
2023
29,437
2024
36,816
2025
41,472

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: 192,633 Returned: 7,612 Quarterly Returns
Last sync:
Source:
GOV.UK | Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2025
illegal-entry-routes-to-the-uk-summary-dec-2025-tables.ods | (IER_01 & Ret_06)

Small Boat Arrivals - Returns Summary #

A total of 7,612 enforced and voluntary returns of small boat arrivals have been recorded from January 2018 to 2025.

2018
9
2019
128
2020
147
2021
28
2022
384
2023
2,042
2024
2,324
2025
2,550

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 Refugee Libya Georgia Kuwait Stateless India Yemen Egypt Ethiopia Not recorded Somalia Turkey Vietnam Sudan Syria Eritrea Iraq All other Afghanistan Iran 2018-2025: 192,633 550 323 273 537 359 621 1.2K 450 1.3K 467 1.7K 1.2K 3.8K 1.1K 1.4K 4.4K 1.5K 7.6K 1.6K 1.6K 4.8K 4.5K 72 328 697 382 316 462 138 293 1.3K 378 508 739 697 1.9K 3.7K 2.7K 4.7K 3.5K 2.1K 1.6K 6.1K 4.2K 43 256 22 223 572 309 51 1.2K 91 810 249 1K 248 3.1K 1.3K 1.7K 2.3K 2.7K 2.5K 1.7K 5.5K 3.6K 64 129 45 133 313 374 198 748 160 1.2K 530 200 86 1.1K 505 1.8K 3K 2K 4.6K 14K 9.1K 5.8K 95 62 42 160 0 537 498 67 135 366 544 582 318 69 1.4K 1.1K 2.5K 2.9K 6.1K 1.4K 1.4K 8.3K 62 34 99 28 3 79 389 64 252 53 108 0 14 10 118 969 776 511 1.6K 382 494 2.4K 0 0 7 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 2 3 0 14 0 471 54 69 1.2K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 33 20 3 238 Yearly Arrivals
Last sync:
Source:
GOV.UK | Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2025
illegal-entry-routes-to-the-uk-summary-dec-2025-tables.ods | (IER_02b)
Nationality 20182019202020212022202320242025 Total
Iran
238
1,213
2,373
8,319
5,841
3,582
4,214
4,489
30,269
Afghanistan
3
69
494
1,437
9,088
5,511
6,065
4,755
27,422
All other
20
54
382
1,385
13,638
1,721
1,563
1,624
20,387
Iraq
33
471
1,648
6,117
4,574
2,536
2,142
1,636
19,157
Eritrea
0
0
511
2,875
2,020
2,666
3,480
7,602
19,154
Syria
1
14
776
2,451
3,006
2,275
4,693
1,528
14,744
Sudan
0
0
969
1,064
1,762
1,658
2,748
4,432
12,633
Vietnam
4
3
118
1,403
505
1,306
3,657
1,433
8,429
Turkey
0
2
10
69
1,127
3,058
1,944
1,148
7,358
Somalia
0
0
14
318
86
248
697
3,783
5,146
Not recorded
0
0
0
582
200
1,036
739
1,192
3,749
Ethiopia
0
5
108
544
530
249
508
1,695
3,639
Egypt
0
1
53
366
1,233
810
378
467
3,308
Yemen
0
0
252
135
160
91
1,300
1,337
3,275
India
0
0
64
67
748
1,214
293
450
2,836
Stateless
0
2
389
498
198
51
138
1,238
2,514
Kuwait
0
2
79
537
374
309
462
621
2,384
Georgia
0
0
3
0
313
572
316
359
1,563
Libya
0
0
28
160
133
223
382
537
1,463
Refugee
0
7
99
42
45
22
697
273
1,185
South Sudan
0
0
34
62
129
256
328
323
1,132
Palestine
0
0
62
95
64
43
72
550
886

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 | Illegal entry routes to the UK summary tables, year ending December 2025
illegal-entry-routes-to-the-uk-summary-dec-2025-tables.ods | (IER_02c)
Sex Age Group 20182019202020212022202320242025
male 17 and under
16
207
1,089
3,347
6,400
4,312
4,306
3,635
male 18 to 24
39
264
1,785
9,035
14,774
9,067
11,252
11,744
male 25 to 39
185
919
3,840
11,059
15,993
9,727
13,593
16,297
male 40 and over
33
164
669
1,448
2,767
1,725
2,204
2,525
male Total
273
1,554
7,383
24,889
39,934
24,831
31,355
34,201
female 17 and under
9
101
360
925
1,671
938
1,124
1,209
female 18 to 24
2
24
141
533
970
756
1,216
1,809
female 25 to 39
14
125
427
1,224
2,200
1,441
1,872
2,514
female 40 and over
1
39
155
297
580
413
509
545
female Total
26
289
1,083
2,979
5,421
3,548
4,721
6,077
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