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At least 12 people have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Channel, according to the French authorities.
Thousands of people cross the Channel in small boats every year, with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying he will take tougher measures to “smash” the people-smuggling gangs responsible.
How many people cross the Channel in small boats?
As at 2 September, 21,403 people had crossed the Channel in 2024. That’s more than in the same period in the previous year, but fewer than in 2022.
In 2023 as a whole, 29,437 people came to the UK in small boats.
The 2022 total of 45,755 was the highest since figures were first collected in 2018.
Since 2018, more than 130,000 people have come to the UK by this route.
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Who is crossing the Channel in small boats?
The latest official statistics show that in the year to June 2024, Afghans were the top nationality crossing the Channel, making up just under a fifth of all small boat arrivals.
Iranians (13%) were the second largest group, followed by arrivals from Vietnam and Turkey, both on 10%.
About 83% of small boat arrivals in the 12 months to June 2024 were male and – where age was recorded – more than 40% were between 25 and 39 years old.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that at least 189 migrants died in the English Channel between 2018 and 19 August 2024
How many people seek asylum in the UK?
Just over 97,000 people claimed asylum in the year to the end of June 2024, according to the most recent figures.
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.
Where do UK asylum seekers come from?
In the year to June 2024, the largest number of UK asylum seekers came from Afghanistan – 9,342.
Other big countries for applications were Iran, Pakistan, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.
In 2022, Albanians were the top nationality with more than 17,300 people (including dependants) claiming asylum. Three quarters arrived on small boats.
Ukrainian refugees who came to the UK after Russia’s invasion of their country are not included in these figures.
As at 26 August 2024, 262,700 visas had been issued to Ukrainian refugees who have come through legal routes set up by the UK government.
There are separate arrangements for a few other specific groups to come to the UK, such as some Afghan refugees and Hong Kong citizens.
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How many asylum cases are waiting to be processed?
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 Tory 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 latest official figures showed that on 14 April 2024, 2,377 of those applications were still waiting for an initial decision.
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How many asylum seekers does the UK send back?
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% from the previous year (4,873), mainly because of a rise in Albanian returns.
In the same year, 2,336 people who arrived in small boats were returned. Between 2018 and June 2024, 3,788 people who came to the UK in small boats were returned, which is 3% of all small boat arrivals in that period.
In December 2023, the Home Office revealed that only 408 non-Albanians who had come to the UK on small boats had been returned to their home countries since 2020.
How do UK small boats arrivals compare with those to Europe?
In 2023, there were 263,048 sea arrivals in Europe, with Italy receiving 60% of those (157,314).
Spain received 57,071 people and Greece 41,561.
As of 27 August 2024,almost 110,000 people had arrived into Europe via the sea since the start of the year.
The number of arrivals in Europe peaked in 2015, when more than a million people crossed its borders – the majority fleeing the Syria conflict.
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How many people apply for asylum across Europe?
In 2023, the UK had the fifth highest number of people claiming asylum in Europe.
With 329,035 applicants, Germany received more than a quarter of all first-time asylum applicants within the EU.
Spain had the second highest number (160,460) followed by France (145,095) and Italy (130,565).
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.
