According to data released by IOM on Thursday, nearly 37,000 people traveled across the English Channel in small boats in 2024, reported by the BBC.
The United Nations agency also said last year was the deadliest on record for those attempting to cross.
36,816 were found to be crossing in 2024. Compared to 2023, when 29,437 people arrived, that number is higher. However, in 2022, 45,755 people crossed, the highest number ever recorded.
In small boats, over 150,000 people have arrived since the first figures were recorded in 2018. 2024 total is lower than the 2022 total, but it is higher than the 2023, 2021, and 2020 totals. In 2024, nearly 5,000 Afghans crossed the Channel in the year ending in September. The next largest group was Iranians, who were followed by Syrians, Vietnamese, and Eritreans. Over 80 percent of those who were recorded were men. Approximately 40 percent of them were in the 25–39 age range.
After Labour won the July general election, over 23,000 people moved here in 2024. According to the British PM, Keir Starmer, suspected people smugglers will be tracked down and their bank accounts closed by the UK’s new Border Security Command. The government has also announced that new laws will restrict their phone use, social media access, and travel.
A Record Death Toll
The number of fatalities crossing the Channel is monitored by the United Nations agency, the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
At least 78 migrants are thought to have perished in 2024 while attempting to cross the Channel.
According to the Refugee Council, government enforcement actions have made crossings riskier by packing more people into boats that aren’t seaworthy. Since 2018, 241 migrants have gone missing or lost their lives while trying to cross the English Channel, according to the IOM. People who died in other situations, like auto accidents or illnesses, while traveling to a crossing point are included in its statistics.
According to data from the Home Office, over 99,700 asylum claims were made in the UK in the year that ended in September 2024. Applications for asylum have increased once more in recent years, more than doubling from 45,318 in the year ending in September 2021 to 92,776 in just one year. Since then, there have been minor increases.
A Low Rate of Expulsions
Those who have no legal right to remain in the UK may be removed by the Home Office or denied entry. 8,519 people who were denied asylum were sent back to their countries of origin in the year ending in September 2024.
Due primarily to an increase in the number of people being repatriated to Albania, this represents a 52 percent increase over the same period in 2023. 4,420 people returned to the UK in small boats between 2018 and September 2024, making up around 3 percent of all arrivals.