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UK records biggest increase in asylum claims in Europe

04 November 2025 08:53 (UTC +04:00)

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, APA reports, citing The Telegraph.

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.