People who arrive in the UK after crossing the English Channel on small boats accounted for nearly half of the total number claiming asylum last year, figures show.
There were 74,751 asylum applications in the UK in 2022, relating to 89,398 people.
This is the highest total for a calendar year since 2002.
It is also up 49% compared with the number of applications in 2021 (50,042) and is more than double the total for the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (35,737).
The jump in applications “mirrors a substantial increase in small boat arrivals to the UK,” according to the Home Office.
Arrivals rose from 28,526 in 2021 to 45,755 in 2022 – an increase of 60%.
People who arrived in the UK on small boats accounted for 45% of the total number of people claiming asylum last year.
Some 90% of arrivals on small boats in 2022 claimed asylum or were recorded as a dependant on an asylum application.
The increase in small boat arrivals has had an impact on the most common nationality of people claiming asylum.
From 2016 to 2021, Iran was the top nationality claiming asylum in the UK.
But in 2022 Albania was the most common nationality, driven partly by a sharp rise in small boat arrivals by Albanian nationals during the summer and early autumn.
In July to September, Albanians accounted for nearly half (45%) of all detected crossings of the English Channel, though in October to December this proportion fell to just 9%.
A total of 14,223 asylum applications from Albanian nationals were made in the UK last year, around two-thirds of which (9,573) originated from small boat arrivals, Government figures show.
Overall, Albanians accounted for 19% of all asylum applications in the UK in 2022, followed by Afghans (13%), Iranians (10%), Iraqis (5%) and Syrians (5%).
By contrast, in 2021 the figure for Albania was 10%, behind both Iran (20%) and Iraq (12%), while Afghanistan was just 5%.
There were 388 asylum applications from Ukrainian nationals in 2022, accounting for 1% of the total.
However, most Ukrainians coming to the UK since the Russian invasion will not have applied for asylum, arriving instead under one of the new visa routes.
Although the total number of asylum applications in the UK is at a 20-year high, the figure is still 11% below the previous peak of 84,132 in 2002, which was partly caused by conflict and political unrest in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Somalia.
