Home Secretary Sajid Javid has described the increase as a “very serious concern”.

He has brought back two patrol vessels from overseas as part of efforts to stem the number of attempted crossings.

But how does the recent increase in attempts to reach the UK across the Channel compare with total asylum applications?

And how does it match up with the peak of Europe’s migrant crisis or the number of people still crossing the Mediterranean now?

What are the numbers behind the “major incident” in the Channel?

539 – The number of migrants who have attempted to travel to the UK on small boats in 2018

434 – The number of migrants who made their attempts to reach the UK in the last three months of 2018. This is around 80% of the total figure

230 – The number of migrants who attempted to cross the Channel in December. But just under half were disrupted by the French authorities and never left the French coast

227 – The number of migrants of the total 539 who were intercepted by the French before they made it to the UK in 2018

How does this compare to total UK asylum claims?

26,547 – The total number of asylum applications in the UK in 2017, the most recent figures available

7,225 – The total number of asylum applications in the last three months of 2017

4,073 – The number of asylum applications at UK ports in 2017

1,295 – The number of asylum applications at UK ports in the last three months of 2017

How does this compare to the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean?

(All figures below are according to the European Union)

885,000 – The number of migrants arriving in Europe through the eastern Mediterranean – via Greece – in 2015.

181,459 – The number of migrants who travelled across the central Mediterranean – from Libya and Tunisia – in 2016

52,196 – The number of illegal border crossings through the western Mediterranean route to Europe – between Spain and Morocco – between January and November 2018

50,932 – The number of illegal border crossings through the eastern Mediterranean route between January and November 2018

22,762 – The number of illegal border crossings through the central Mediterranean route between January and November 2018

10,000 – The number of people who arrived in some European countries per day at the peak of the migrant crisis

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