Irregular Migration

This page presents data on irregular migration to the UK from 2018 to March 2026. 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 2026 2018-2026: 197,074 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 1-in-1-out deal Thu, 10 Jul 2025 Shabana Mahmood (Home Sec.) Fri, 5 Sep 2025 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-mar-2026-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 197,074 arrivals via small boats have been detected from January 2018 to March 2026.

2018
299
2019
1,843
2020
8,466
2021
28,526
2022
45,774
2023
29,437
2024
36,816
2025
41,472
2026
4,441

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 2026 Arrivals: 197,074 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-mar-2026-tables.ods | (IER_02a & 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 March 2026.

2018
9
2019
128
2020
147
2021
28
2022
384
2023
2,042
2024
2,324
2025
2,550
2026
0

Small Boat Arrivals - By Nationality #

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

2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 Sierra Leone Palestine South Sudan Sri Lanka Georgia Kuwait Stateless India Yemen Egypt Ethiopia Not recorded Somalia Turkey Vietnam Sudan Syria Iraq Eritrea All other Afghanistan Iran 2018-2026: 197,074 28 27 78 31 31 29 135 71 63 48 165 219 378 42 169 735 102 186 743 168 598 395 204 550 323 271 359 621 1.2K 450 1.3K 467 1.7K 1.2K 3.8K 1.1K 1.4K 4.4K 1.5K 1.6K 7.6K 2K 4.8K 4.5K 58 72 328 334 316 462 138 293 1.3K 378 508 739 697 1.9K 3.7K 2.7K 4.7K 2.1K 3.5K 2.3K 6.1K 4.2K 10 43 256 296 572 309 51 1.2K 91 810 249 1K 248 3.1K 1.3K 1.7K 2.3K 2.5K 2.7K 1.7K 5.5K 3.6K 11 64 129 182 313 374 198 748 160 1.2K 530 200 86 1.1K 505 1.8K 3K 4.6K 2K 14K 9.1K 5.8K 0 95 62 80 0 537 498 67 135 366 544 582 318 69 1.4K 1.1K 2.5K 6.1K 2.9K 1.5K 1.4K 8.3K 2 62 34 18 3 79 389 64 252 53 108 0 14 10 118 969 776 1.6K 511 489 494 2.4K 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 2 3 0 14 471 0 61 69 1.2K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 33 0 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-mar-2026-tables.ods | (IER_02b)
Nationality 201820192020202120222023202420252026 Total
Iran
238
1,213
2,373
8,319
5,841
3,582
4,214
4,489
395
30,664
Afghanistan
3
69
494
1,437
9,088
5,511
6,065
4,755
598
28,020
All other
20
61
489
1,507
13,623
1,660
2,250
1,959
168
21,737
Eritrea
0
0
511
2,875
2,020
2,666
3,480
7,602
743
19,897
Iraq
33
471
1,648
6,117
4,574
2,536
2,142
1,636
186
19,343
Syria
1
14
776
2,451
3,006
2,275
4,693
1,528
102
14,846
Sudan
0
0
969
1,064
1,762
1,658
2,748
4,432
735
13,368
Vietnam
4
3
118
1,403
505
1,306
3,657
1,433
169
8,598
Turkey
0
2
10
69
1,127
3,058
1,944
1,148
42
7,400
Somalia
0
0
14
318
86
248
697
3,783
378
5,524
Not recorded
0
0
0
582
200
1,036
739
1,192
219
3,968
Ethiopia
0
5
108
544
530
249
508
1,695
165
3,804
Egypt
0
1
53
366
1,233
810
378
467
48
3,356
Yemen
0
0
252
135
160
91
1,300
1,337
63
3,338
India
0
0
64
67
748
1,214
293
450
71
2,907
Stateless
0
2
389
498
198
51
138
1,238
135
2,649
Kuwait
0
2
79
537
374
309
462
621
29
2,413
Georgia
0
0
3
0
313
572
316
359
31
1,594
Sri Lanka
0
0
18
80
182
296
334
271
31
1,212
South Sudan
0
0
34
62
129
256
328
323
78
1,210
Palestine
0
0
62
95
64
43
72
550
27
913
Sierra Leone
0
0
2
0
11
10
58
204
28
313

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 2026 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-mar-2026-tables.ods | (IER_02c)
Sex Age Group 201820192020202120222023202420252026
male 17 and under
16
207
1,089
3,347
6,400
4,312
4,306
3,635
514
male 18 to 24
39
264
1,785
9,035
14,774
9,067
11,252
11,744
1,252
male 25 to 39
185
919
3,840
11,059
15,993
9,727
13,593
16,297
1,586
male 40 and over
33
164
669
1,448
2,767
1,725
2,204
2,525
244
male Total
273
1,554
7,383
24,889
39,934
24,831
31,355
34,201
3,596
female 17 and under
9
101
360
925
1,671
938
1,124
1,209
124
female 18 to 24
2
24
141
533
970
756
1,216
1,809
204
female 25 to 39
14
125
427
1,224
2,200
1,441
1,872
2,514
248
female 40 and over
1
39
155
297
580
413
509
545
50
female Total
26
289
1,083
2,979
5,421
3,548
4,721
6,077
626
unknown 17 and under
0
0
0
49
90
3
0
0
0
unknown 18 to 24
0
0
0
11
65
10
0
1
0
unknown 25 to 39
0
0
0
10
49
9
1
1
0
unknown 40 and over
0
0
0
6
15
0
0
0
0
unknown Total
0
0
0
76
219
22
1
2
0