Irregular Migration

This page presents data on irregular migration to the UK from 2018 to June 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: 204,517 Theresa May | - Wed, 24 Jul 2019 Boris Johnson Wed, 24 Jul 2019 - Tue, 6 Sep 2022 Brexit Fri, 31 Jan 2020 MOD Operational Command Thu, 14 Apr 2022 - Tue, 31 Jan 2023 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 - Mon, 20 Jul 2026 1-in-1-out deal Thu, 10 Jul 2025 Shabana Mahmood (Home Sec.) Fri, 5 Sep 2025 Andy Burnham Mon, 20 Jul 2026 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-jun-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 204,517 arrivals via small boats have been detected from January 2018 to June 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
11,884

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: 204,517 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-jun-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 June 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 Palestine Sri Lanka South Sudan Stateless Georgia Kuwait India Refugee Egypt Not recorded Yemen Ethiopia Turkey Somalia Vietnam Syria Sudan Iraq All other Eritrea Afghanistan Iran 2018-2026: 269,316 368 290 346 425 308 258 471 441 354 1.1K 517 1.4K 783 3.9K 723 1K 4.2K 1.3K 1.6K 5.9K 4K 3.7K 536 273 332 276 367 526 461 1.3K 493 877 1.3K 1.7K 1.2K 3.8K 1.4K 1.5K 4.4K 1.7K 2K 7.6K 4.8K 4.5K 72 334 328 138 316 462 293 697 378 739 1.3K 508 1.9K 697 3.7K 4.7K 2.7K 2.1K 1.6K 3.5K 6.1K 4.2K 43 296 256 51 572 309 1.2K 22 810 1K 91 249 3.1K 248 1.3K 2.3K 1.7K 2.5K 1.6K 2.7K 5.5K 3.6K 64 182 129 198 313 374 748 45 1.2K 200 160 530 1.1K 86 505 3K 1.8K 4.6K 14K 2K 9.1K 5.8K 95 80 62 498 0 537 67 42 366 582 135 544 69 318 1.4K 2.5K 1.1K 6.1K 1.5K 2.9K 1.4K 8.3K 62 18 34 389 3 79 64 99 53 0 252 108 10 14 118 776 969 1.6K 392 511 494 2.4K 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 7 1 0 0 5 2 0 3 14 0 471 54 0 69 1.2K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 33 20 0 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-jun-2026-tables.ods | (IER_02b)
Nationality 201820192020202120222023202420252026 Total
Iran
238
1,213
2,373
8,319
5,841
3,582
4,214
4,505
3,657
33,942
Afghanistan
3
69
494
1,437
9,088
5,511
6,065
4,801
4,042
31,510
Eritrea
0
0
511
2,875
2,020
2,666
3,480
7,583
5,875
25,010
All other
20
54
392
1,465
13,589
1,648
1,610
2,021
1,581
22,380
Iraq
33
471
1,648
6,117
4,574
2,536
2,142
1,706
1,336
20,563
Sudan
0
0
969
1,064
1,762
1,658
2,748
4,447
4,191
16,839
Syria
1
14
776
2,451
3,006
2,275
4,693
1,531
1,003
15,750
Vietnam
4
3
118
1,403
505
1,306
3,658
1,440
723
9,160
Somalia
0
0
14
318
86
248
697
3,806
3,901
9,070
Turkey
0
2
10
69
1,127
3,058
1,944
1,158
783
8,151
Ethiopia
0
5
108
544
530
249
508
1,745
1,364
5,053
Not recorded
0
0
0
582
200
1,036
739
877
1,140
4,574
Yemen
0
0
252
135
160
91
1,300
1,332
517
3,787
Egypt
0
1
53
366
1,233
810
378
493
354
3,688
India
0
0
64
67
748
1,214
293
461
471
3,318
Refugee
0
7
99
42
45
22
697
1,256
441
2,609
Kuwait
0
2
79
537
374
309
462
526
258
2,547
Stateless
0
2
389
498
198
51
138
276
425
1,977
Georgia
0
0
3
0
313
572
316
367
308
1,879
South Sudan
0
0
34
62
129
256
328
332
346
1,487
Sri Lanka
0
0
18
80
182
296
334
273
290
1,473
Palestine
0
0
62
95
64
43
72
536
368
1,240

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-jun-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
4,335
3,863
male 18 to 24
39
264
1,785
9,035
14,774
9,067
11,252
12,870
9,101
male 25 to 39
185
919
3,840
11,059
15,993
9,727
13,593
17,271
12,162
male 40 and over
33
164
669
1,448
2,767
1,725
2,204
2,738
1,847
male Total
273
1,554
7,383
24,889
39,934
24,831
31,355
37,214
26,973
female 17 and under
9
101
360
925
1,671
938
1,124
1,180
1,130
female 18 to 24
2
24
141
533
970
756
1,216
1,511
1,535
female 25 to 39
14
125
427
1,224
2,200
1,441
1,872
2,168
2,179
female 40 and over
1
39
155
297
580
413
509
552
416
female Total
26
289
1,083
2,979
5,421
3,548
4,721
5,411
5,260
unknown 17 and under
0
0
0
49
90
3
0
0
0
unknown 18 to 24
0
0
0
11
65
10
0
0
1
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
1
1