“Landings in the Mediterranean are decreasing” –

Irregular migrant arrivals in Europe are decreasing: according to the latest data provided by Frontex, the EU external borders agency, overall the number of those who crossed the borders illegally fell by 36% in the first 7 months of the year. The largest drops were recorded on the Western Balkans (-75%) and Central Mediterranean (-64%) routes.

Frontex also recorded, in partial contrast to the declines in arrivals on the Balkan and Central Mediterranean borders, an increase in those arriving on the eastern land border (+195%) and from the West African route (+154%). The top three nationalities of migrants arriving in Europe this year are Syria, Mali and Afghanistan. Despite the decrease, the Central Mediterranean route remains the most active to the European Union with 32,200 migrants arriving mainly on the Italian coasts. The decline, according to Frontex, is mainly explained by the preventive measures adopted by the Tunisian and Libyan authorities to counter the activities of traffickers. Arrivals from these two countries represent 95% of all migrants reported on the Central Mediterranean route. The number of detections on the Western Balkan route also continued to decrease significantly in the period January-July, falling by up to 75% to just over 12,400. Meanwhile, the West African route continued to record an unprecedented number of detections, with the total number of irregular migrants arriving in the Canary Islands in the first seven months increasing by 154% year-on-year to over 21,600. The Eastern Mediterranean was the second most active migration route this year, with the number of arrivals increasing by 57% to almost 29,700. The Eastern land borders continued to record a significant number of arrivals this year, with a 195% increase to around 9,500. On the English Channel route, the number of detections in the first seven months of 2024 increased by 22% to 33,183.