Switzerland - IOM reports that 354,804 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 13 December, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy..
Some 176,678 people have arrived by sea in Italy in 2016 - more than in either 2014 or 2015. Some 172,681 migrants and refugees arrived by sea in Greece during the same period, far fewer than in 2015.
Mediterranean Developments
Total arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean 2015-2016
|
1 January – 11 December 2016 |
1 January – 14 December 2015 |
||
|
Country of Arrival |
Arrivals |
Deaths |
Deaths |
|
Italy |
176,678 |
4,244 (Central Med. route) |
ITALY 2,868 |
|
Greece |
172,681 |
429 (Eastern Med. route) |
|
|
Cyprus |
189 |
||
|
Spain |
5,445 (as of 30 September) |
69 (Western Med. route) |
|
|
Estimated Total |
354,993 |
4,742 |
3,665 |
IOM Rome reported Monday 1,826 migrants were rescued at sea between Italy and Libya this past weekend. By late Monday they were being brought ashore. The Italian coastguard ship “Diciotti” recovered six corpses from a dinghy carrying 165 migrants.
|
Arrivals by sea to Italy - Main Countries of Origin January – November 2016/2015 Comparison (Source: Italian Ministry of Interior) |
||
|
Main Countries of Origin |
2016 |
2015 |
|
Nigeria |
36,352 |
20,171 |
|
Eritrea |
20,176 |
37,882 |
|
Guinea |
12,534 |
2,045 |
|
Ivory Coast |
11,556 |
3,175 |
|
Gambia |
11,384 |
6,979 |
|
Senegal |
9,643 |
5,212 |
|
Mali |
9,416 |
5,307 |
|
Sudan |
9,254 |
8,766 |
|
Bangladesh |
7,578 |
5,039 |
|
Somalia |
7,138 |
11,242 |
|
Tot. All Countries of Origin |
173,008 |
144,205 |
IOM Athens reported Monday a slight uptick in the number of migrants and refugees arriving by sea on the Greek islands over the weekend. On Friday IOM recorded arrivals of 138 migrants or refugees on Lesvos, 67 on Chios and 125 on Kalymnos for a single-day total of 305. Over the following two days, a total of 117 arrivals were recorded.
The total number of migrant and refugee fatalities in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2016 is now 4,742, including the deaths of those six migrants whose remains were discovered in a rubber dinghy over the weekend. This is 1,141 more deaths than at this point last year, when 3,665 people were reported drowned through 14 December 2015.
In related news, the German Ministry of Interior reported on Friday that for the month of November, Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq and Nigeria were the top five countries of origin for asylum seekers in Germany.
For the month, 17,566 arrivals of asylum seekers were registered in Germany, a slight deviation from the general trend of a decrease in numbers of arrivals, especially earlier in the year, when over 150,000 asylum seekers were recorded during the first nine weeks of 2016 (Oct: 15,178; Sept: 15,618; Aug: 18,143; July: 16,160; June: 16,335; May: 16,281; April: 15,941; March: 20,608; Feb: 61,428; Jan: 91,671).
The Ministry presented a consolidated figure of arrivals in September, showing that in the first three quarters of 2016, only 213,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany - barely 24 percent of all of 2015’s arrivals (890,000 from Jan-Dec).
For 2016, the top arriving nationalities were:
| Jan-Nov 2016 | Jan-Nov 2015 | |
| Syria: | 264,586 | 136,271 |
| Afghanistan: | 125,612 | 26,742 |
| Iraq: | 95,187 | 26,251 |
| Iran: | 26,074 | 4,769 |
| Eritrea: | 17,396 | 10,203 |
| Albania: | 16,484 | 52,859 |
| Pakistan: | 15,058 | 7,716 |
| Nigeria: | 12,228 | 5,171 |
| Russian Federation: | 11,679 | 5,815 |
For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic:
http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/Mediterranean_Update_13_DEC_2016.pdf