This data may be out of date — the source may have published a newer figure.
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Small boat crossings
People arriving in the UK via small boats across the English Channel each year.
57 thousands
+18.8% vs previous period
As of 2024
Historical trend
Trend summary
36,816 people arrived in the UK via small boat crossings in 2024, a 19% decrease from 45,774 in 2023.
Trend
- Small boat arrivals rose from around 300 in 2018 to a peak of 45,774 in 2022 before declining to 36,816 in 2024.
- The decline from the 2022 peak follows introduction of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and a UK-France joint operational agreement.
- Arrivals in 2024 remain substantially higher than any pre-2021 year.
Context
- Home Office publishes irregular migration statistics monthly; figures cover detected crossings of the English Channel and North Sea in small vessels.
- These figures represent detected crossings; the true total may differ from the recorded figure.
Trend summary generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 on 27 February 2025. Contains no editorial judgement — describes direction, magnitude, and official projections only.
About this indicator
- Source
- Home Office
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Last updated
- 27 February 2025 Data may be out of date
- Licence
- OGL v3
- Rising trend is…
- Negative
Statistics
- Latest
- 57.0 thousands
- Period high
- 57.0
- Period low
- 2.0
- Period average
- 31.3