UK records biggest increase in asylum claims in Europe

UK records biggest increase in asylum claims in Europe

Story by Tim Wallace

Overall migration dropped in the UK, despite surge in asylum applications - Dan Kitwood/Getty

Britain posted the biggest rise in asylum claims in Europe last year, new figures show, as the number of applications surged to a record high.

A total of 108,000 claims were lodged in 2024, reflecting a 28pc jump on the 84,000 recorded in 2023.

This increase far outstripped the UK’s peers across the Continent, including France and Germany, where the number of asylum claims actually fell.

Last year’s tally was also the highest number of applications on record for the UK, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), eclipsing 103,000 asylum claims lodged in 2002.

The latest figures will raise fresh concerns over the Channel migrant crisis and the Government’s ability to crack down on small boats.

Sir Keir Starmer in September admitted Labour had failed to recognise problems over the number of people seeking access to the country, acknowledging the party “did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration”.

“It has been too easy for people to enter the country, work in the shadow economy and remain illegally,” the Prime Minister wrote in The Telegraph.

The OECD found that a total of 44,000 illicit entries were attempted in the UK last year, mostly through illegal Channel crossings. That was up from 37,000 in 2023.

Findings also revealed that more than 10,000 of the UK’s asylum applicants last year came from Pakistan, while people from Afghanistan and Iran accounted for more than 8,000 each.

The figures reflect an unprecedented surge in refugees across the rich world, as more than three million asylum claims were made across the OECD’s group of 38 countries last year. This was the highest number on record.

America experienced the biggest increase, with 1.7 million asylum claims lodged last year, up from 1.2 million in 2023 and 730,000 in 2022.

Germany received the next largest number of asylum applications at almost 230,000, which was down by almost 100,000 on the previous year.

Canada followed, with a record 174,000 applications in 2024.

While Spain and Italy posted a smaller increase in the number of asylum claims than the UK, they still received more applications overall, with 164,00 and 151,000 respectively.

This is largely owing to their proximity to the migrant routes in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, the OECD found that overall migration to the UK dropped last year, as Britain received 436,000 permanent migrants in 2024, down from 743,000 in 2023.

Just over a quarter of these were classed as workers, with 60pc arriving as family members.

However, arrival rates are still running well above pre-pandemic levels, as 356,000 permanent migrants arrived in Britain in 2019.

Total permanent migration fell by 4pc last year to 6.2m across the OECD nations, although the organisation said figures remain “historically high”.

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