What was claimed
Almost 1% of, or one in 100, people crossing the Channel in small boats are dying.
Our verdict
Incorrect—the actual figure is much less. Recorded figures suggest there’s been around one death per 1,190 small boat arrivals between 2018 and 2025.
Discussing small boat crossings in the English Channel in an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf claimed that “almost 1%, one in 100, of people making this journey are dying”.
That’s not correct. The data we have suggests the actual proportion is closer to 1 in 1,000.
According to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, between 2018 and 2025 a total of 162 people are known to have died attempting a small boat crossing in the Channel.
The total number of small boat arrivals over the same period was 192,610, suggesting that approximately 0.084% of all attempted small boat crossings by individuals over this period resulted in their death—around 1 death per 1,190 arrivals.
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The Migration Observatory told Full Fact it had counted 17 deaths related to small boat crossings so far in 2026, which would be approximately 0.11% of all attempted small boat crossings as of 2 August.
Mr Yusuf did say earlier in his interview that “north of 170” people had died crossing the Channel, which is broadly correct. We’ve contacted Reform UK for comment.
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