- 186,768 TOTAL ARRIVALS TO EUROPE
- 172,362 TOTAL ARRIVALS TO EUROPE BY SEA
- 14,406 TOTAL ARRIVALS TO EUROPE BY LAND
Highlights
DTM flow monitoring data collected in 2017 shows that between January and December 2017, 186,768 migrants arrived to Europe through the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean route; a 52% decrease compared to 387,739 registered in 2016. Ninety-two per cent of registered migrants arrived by sea (172,362) to Italy, Greece, Spain and Cyprus. The remaining 14,406 have arrived to European countries using different land routes to Spanish enclaves Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa (6,293) and those leading fromt Turkey to Greece (5,551) and Bulgaria (2,562).
As previously reported (Q3 2017) the decrease in arrivals in 2017 is largely related to the changes in trends observed in Greece and Bulgaria, and to a lesser extend, in Italy.
In 2017, Greek authorities registered 35,052 new migrants who arrived by land and sea.
This represents a 82% decrease compared to 176,906 registered in 2016 and more than twenty times decrease compared to 857,363 recorded in 2015.
At the end of 2017, Bulgarian Ministry of Interior reported a total of 2,562 apprehensions, a 85% decrease compared to 17,187 intercepted in 2016. This includes first time registered irregular migrants who attempted to enter the country from Turkey, exit towards Serbia (mainly) and have been residing in the country without valid document.
The largest portion (56%) of migrants arrived to Europe via Central Mediterranean route with Italy being the main entry point on this route. However, looking into historical dynamic, in 2017 Italy has seen the lowest number of arrivals since 2014. 119,310 arrivals in 2017 represent a 34% decrease compared to 181,436 reported at the end of 2016, 22% compared to 2015 (153,842) and a 30% decrease compared to 170,100 arrivals in 2014.
In contrast to that, Spain and Cyprus noted an increase in arrivals during 2017. Arrivals to Spain more than doubled throughout 2017 reaching the total of 28,707 at the end of the year versus 14,558 registered in 2016. Twenty-two per cent of migrants arrived to Spain by land (6,293) and the majority (22,414) arrived by sea. At the end of 2017, there were 1,078 arrivals to Cyprus which is the highest number reported since 2014 when 345 migrants were registered, same as in 2016 (in 2015 authorities registered 269).