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A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the Channel on a small boat – the second-highest annual figure on record.
No migrants made the journey on New Year’s Eve, the Home Office confirmed on Thursday, with the last recorded crossing made on 22 December.
It means the overall number of arrivals last year ended up 9% below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.
The total for 2025 was 13% higher than in 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41% higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.
The first half of 2025 saw 19,982 people arrive, a record number in that period.
However, that pace slowed during the last two months of the year and there were long periods when no migrants arrived, including a 28-day run from 15 November to 12 December.
There was an average of 62 people per small boat that arrived in 2025, which is up from 53 in 2024 and 49 in 2023.
Charities estimate that at least 36 people died trying to make the journey last year, including an eight-year-old girl and her mother, who were crushed on a boat in May, the Mirror reports.
The number of arrivals in 2025 has heaped pressure on Sir Keir Starmer’s government, having entered office in July 2024 with a repeated vow to “smash the gangs” and reduce the number of crossings. Almost 65,000 migrants have arrived since then.
The UK’s Border Security Commander, Martin Hewitt, tasked with curbing Channel crossings, told MPs in October that the number of arrivals in 2025 was “frustrating” but that work to stop the smuggling route was “always going to take time”.
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