Does the UK deport more people than European countries?

It cannot be answered from published statistics as directly as it sounds. Eurostat stopped reporting the UK when it left the EU, so the comparable European series ends for the UK in 2019, and even in the years both existed the Eurostat figure was on a different basis from the Home Office headline - running around 1.27 times higher on average, and by a margin that was itself changing. European countries can be compared with each other; the UK figure needs its own footing.

Which European country returns the most people?

Germany recorded the highest volume in 2025 with 36,075 returns of third-country nationals, out of an EU27 total of 156,000. Adjusted for population the ranking changes substantially: Cyprus has the highest rate at 1081.4 per 100,000 residents.

Why can UK and EU return figures not simply be compared?

They count different things. Eurostat counts third-country nationals returned following an order to leave. The Home Office headline counts enforced plus voluntary returns and reports port refusals as a separate series. In 2019, the last year both were published, Eurostat put UK returns at 30,345 while the Home Office basis gave 19,772 and the total including port refusals gave 38,236. The Eurostat figure matches neither.

UK vs Europe: Returns Compared

Source: Eurostat migr_eirtn, third country nationals returned following an order to leave, annual to 2025

The honest headline is that this comparison is harder than it looks. Eurostat stopped reporting the UK when it left the EU, so the comparable European series for the UK ends in 2019. And in the years both were published, Eurostat's UK figure was on a different basis from the Home Office headline — higher by a factor that ranged from 1.16× to 1.54×. European countries below can be ranked against each other. The UK cannot be dropped into that ranking, and this page does not pretend otherwise.

EU27 returns (2025)

156,000

Highest volume

Germany
36,075

Highest per 100,000 residents

Cyprus
1081.4

Countries reporting 2025

European countries, 2025

All figures on one basis, from one collection, for one year, so these rows are comparable with each other. Population-adjusted rates are the fairer measure: a large country returning more people than a small one is not by itself informative.

#	Country	Returns	Per 100,000 residents
1	Germany	36,075	43.2
2	France	18,930	27.5
3	Sweden	13,990	132.1
4	Cyprus	10,630	1,081.4
5	Poland	9,700	26.6
6	Austria	8,045	87.5
7	Croatia	6,620	170.9
8	Spain	5,705	11.6
9	Belgium	5,245	44.1
10	Greece	5,080	49.0
11	Netherlands	4,970	27.5
12	Italy	4,780	8.1
13	Lithuania	4,555	157.6
14	Hungary	4,335	45.4
15	Czechia	3,255	29.8
16	Switzerland	3,235	35.7
17	Latvia	2,280	122.5
18	Montenegro	2,070	332.1
19	Ireland	2,050	37.7
20	Finland	1,915	34.0
21	Romania	1,800	9.5
22	Norway	1,320	23.6
23	Bulgaria	1,205	18.7
24	Malta	1,065	185.5
25	Denmark	975	16.3
26	Portugal	825	7.7
27	Estonia	660	48.2
28	Slovenia	490	23.0
29	Slovakia	425	7.8
30	Luxembourg	390	57.2
31	Liechtenstein	10	24.5

Eurostat rounds these counts to the nearest 5. Eurostat data last updated 2026-08-05. Machine-readable: eu-returns.json.

Where the UK sits, and why it is not in the table above

Both series existed for the UK from 2008 to 2019. Comparing them year by year shows the size of the definitional difference — and shows that the difference was not constant, which is why it cannot be used as a conversion factor to place a modern UK figure in the European ranking.

Year	Eurostat basis	Home Office headline basis	Eurostat ÷ Home Office
2019	30,345	19,772	1.53×
2018	34,930	24,938	1.40×
2017	38,970	32,720	1.19×
2016	47,020	40,377	1.16×
2015	51,765	43,131	1.20×
2014	49,920	41,356	1.21×
2013	54,960	46,544	1.18×
2012	54,180	46,136	1.17×
2011	53,600	44,654	1.20×
2010	53,615	45,690	1.17×
2009	64,945	42,272	1.54×
2008	47,455	37,789	1.26×

The ratio is not stable — it moves between 1.16× and 1.54× across these years, averaging 1.27×. An unstable ratio is not a conversion factor, so no adjusted UK figure is published here. The UK's own current figure, on its own basis, is 40,611 for the year ending June 2026 — see latest figures.

Data Limitations & Caveats

Two collections, not one. Eurostat counts third-country nationals returned following an order to leave. The Home Office headline counts enforced plus voluntary returns, with port refusals reported separately. They are different measures and should not be added, ranked together, or subtracted from one another.
UK coverage ends 2019. Eurostat no longer reports the UK. Any current "UK vs EU" league table you see elsewhere has either mixed the two bases or estimated the UK figure.
Rounded counts. Eurostat rounds to the nearest 5, so small differences between countries are not meaningful.
Rates depend on the denominator. Per-100,000 figures use total resident population, which is a crude denominator: the population actually liable to return is unknown and differs sharply between countries. Treat the rate column as indicative, not as a performance measure.
Not a measure of policy success. Return volumes reflect how many people are present and removable, geography, readmission agreements with third countries, and court capacity, not only enforcement effort.

Sources: Eurostat migr_eirtn (returns of third country nationals following an order to leave, annual) | Eurostat demo_pjan (population on 1 January) | Home Office Immigration System Statistics, returns detailed datasets.