Home Office · Immigration system statistics: illegal entry routes detailed dataset · 114 values
Small boat arrivals by nationality
The number of people detected arriving in the UK by small boat across the Channel in each quarter, split by nationality as recorded at detection.
latest 12 months to 2026 Q2; 4 quarters summed · total 33,592 people · published 27 August 2026
| Nationality | Latest 12 months | Share | Previous 12 months | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eritrea | 5,875 | 17.5% | 5,982 | ▼ 1.8% |
| Sudan | 4,191 | 12.5% | 3,772 | ▲ 11.1% |
| Afghanistan | 4,042 | 12% | 6,390 | ▼ 36.7% |
| Somalia | 3,901 | 11.6% | 2,221 | ▲ 75.6% |
| Iran | 3,657 | 10.9% | 4,319 | ▼ 15.3% |
| Ethiopia | 1,364 | 4.1% | 1,228 | ▲ 11.1% |
| Iraq | 1,336 | 4% | 1,936 | ▼ 31% |
| Not currently recorded | 1,140 | 3.4% | 683 | ▲ 66.9% |
| Syria | 1,003 | 3% | 3,946 | ▼ 74.6% |
| Turkey | 783 | 2.3% | 1,549 | ▼ 49.5% |
| Vietnam | 723 | 2.2% | 2,428 | ▼ 70.2% |
| Yemen | 517 | 1.5% | 2,189 | ▼ 76.4% |
| India | 471 | 1.4% | 363 | ▲ 29.8% |
| Refugee | 441 | 1.3% | 1,351 | ▼ 67.4% |
| Stateless | 425 | 1.3% | 240 | ▲ 77.1% |
| Palestine | 368 | 1.1% | 313 | ▲ 17.6% |
| Egypt | 354 | 1.1% | 503 | ▼ 29.6% |
| South Sudan | 346 | 1% | 362 | ▼ 4.4% |
| Georgia | 308 | 0.9% | 339 | ▼ 9.1% |
| Sri Lanka | 290 | 0.9% | 306 | ▼ 5.2% |
| Kuwait | 258 | 0.8% | 671 | ▼ 61.5% |
| Libya | 246 | 0.7% | 636 | ▼ 61.3% |
| Sierra Leone | 214 | 0.6% | 133 | ▲ 60.9% |
| Tanzania | 183 | 0.5% | 133 | ▲ 37.6% |
| Albania | 181 | 0.5% | 654 | ▼ 72.3% |
| Pakistan | 138 | 0.4% | 137 | ▲ 0.7% |
| Tajikistan | 119 | 0.4% | 22 | ▲ 440.9% |
| Other and unknown | 79 | 0.2% | 62 | ▲ 27.4% |
| China | 34 | 0.1% | 23 | ▲ 47.8% |
| Algeria | 32 | 0.1% | 37 | ▼ 13.5% |
| Chad | 32 | 0.1% | 29 | ▲ 10.3% |
| Gambia, The | 31 | 0.1% | 29 | ▲ 6.9% |
| Senegal | 28 | 0.1% | 16 | ▲ 75% |
| Mali | 27 | 0.1% | 6 | ▲ 350% |
| Guinea | 26 | 0.1% | 35 | ▼ 25.7% |
| Nigeria | 25 | 0.1% | 37 | ▼ 32.4% |
| Uganda | 24 | 0.1% | — | — |
| Tunisia | 21 | 0.1% | 27 | ▼ 22.2% |
| Lebanon | 19 | 0.1% | 19 | → 0% |
| Morocco | 19 | 0.1% | 26 | ▼ 26.9% |
| Jordan | 16 | 0% | 12 | ▲ 33.3% |
| Ivory Coast | 14 | 0% | 6 | ▲ 133.3% |
| Russia | 14 | 0% | 11 | ▲ 27.3% |
| Cameroon | 13 | 0% | 7 | ▲ 85.7% |
| Niger | 13 | 0% | 8 | ▲ 62.5% |
| Uzbekistan | 13 | 0% | — | — |
| Azerbaijan | 12 | 0% | 15 | ▼ 20% |
| Burkina Faso | 10 | 0% | — | — |
| Kenya | 10 | 0% | 9 | ▲ 11.1% |
| Bangladesh | 9 | 0% | 8 | ▲ 12.5% |
| Dominica | 9 | 0% | — | — |
| Germany | 9 | 0% | — | — |
| Kosovo | 9 | 0% | 7 | ▲ 28.6% |
| Ukraine | 8 | 0% | — | — |
| Central African Republic | 7 | 0% | — | — |
| Western Sahara | 7 | 0% | — | — |
| Guinea-Bissau | 6 | 0% | — | — |
| Mauritania | 6 | 0% | 6 | → 0% |
| Congo (Democratic Republic) | 5 | 0% | — | — |
| Ghana | 5 | 0% | 9 | ▼ 44.4% |
| Kazakhstan | 5 | 0% | — | — |
| Liberia | 5 | 0% | 5 | → 0% |
| Moldova | 5 | 0% | — | — |
| North Macedonia | 5 | 0% | — | — |
| Armenia | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Benin | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Burundi | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Cyprus (Northern part of) | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Djibouti | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Indonesia | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Israel | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Nepal | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Philippines | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Saudi Arabia | 4 | 0% | 4 | → 0% |
| Serbia | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Zimbabwe | 4 | 0% | — | — |
| Brazil | 3 | 0% | — | — |
| Myanmar (Burma) | 3 | 0% | — | — |
| Thailand | 3 | 0% | — | — |
| Togo | 3 | 0% | — | — |
| Belarus | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Congo | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Cyprus | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| French Guiana (French) | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Greece | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Jamaica | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Malawi | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Montenegro | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Papua New Guinea | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Poland | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| South Africa | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| St Lucia | 2 | 0% | — | — |
| Andorra | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Bahrain | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Belgium | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Bolivia | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| British overseas citizens | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Denmark | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Finland | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| France | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Guyana | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Haiti | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Italy | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Kyrgyzstan | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Latvia | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Mozambique | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Qatar | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Sweden | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| Turkmenistan | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| United Arab Emirates | 1 | 0% | — | — |
| United States | 1 | 0% | — | — |
Source
- Dataset
- Immigration system statistics: illegal entry routes detailed dataset · sheet Data_IER_D01
- Rows
- Method of entry=Small boat arrivals; values are the sum of the published rows for each nationality and period.
- Caveat
- Arrivals by other illegal routes, people who arrived undetected, or whether the person later claimed asylum.
- Parent metric
- Small boat arrivals
- API
- /api/metrics/small_boat_arrivals_by_nationality/vintages