http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2017/01/05/migrant-arrivals-in-italy-reached-record-levels-in-2016_842da5c8-e753-43d7-ad45-6347b9b32534.html
Migrant arrivals in Italy reached record levels in 2016
Arrivals up 18%, 176,554 hosted, spike in unaccompanied minors
05 JANUARY, 19:34
(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 5 - Migrant arrivals and hosting in Italy reached record levels in 2016, with unaccompanied minors especially numerous.
Migrant arrivals in 2016 were 18% higher than in 2015, with a total of 181,436 arrivals compared to 153,842 the year before.
Arrivals in 2016 were 6% higher than in 2014 when the total was 170,100.
Contrary to previous years, 2016 arrivals peaked in October, with 27,384 arrivals, a number three times higher than in October 2015, when 8,915 arrivals were registered.
Arrivals doubled for unaccompanied children and adolescents in 2016, jumping to 25,772 arrivals compared to 12,360 in 2015.
The majority of migrants arrived at a Sicilian port, with the record going to the port of Augusta where 25,624 migrants set foot on Italian soil in 2016.
It was followed by the ports of Pozzallo (18,970), Catania (17,989), Messina (15,188) and Palermo (15,083).
The majority of migrants came from Nigeria, at 37,551 arrivals, followed by Eritrea at 20,718, Guinea at 13,342, Ivory Coast at 12,396, and Gambia at 11,929.
The increase in migrants hosted in Italy was even sharper, jumping to 176,554 migrants in the system in 2016 compared to 103,792 in 2015 and 22,118 in 2013.
The majority of migrants hosted in Italy in 2016 were residing in temporary structures: 22,822 in SPRAR (System for Protection for Asylum Seekers and Refugees) centres, 14,694 in initial reception centres, and 820 in hotspots.
The region that hosted the most migrants in 2016 was Lombardy, with 23,046 migrants, equivalent to 13% overall, followed by Lazio (14,886), Piedmont (14,347), Veneto (14,224), Campania (14,312) and Sicily (14,076), all at 8%.
Tuscany (12.456), Emilia Romagna (12.259) and Puglia (12.136) were at 7%.
The region that hosted the fewest migrants was the Aosta Valley at just 288, or 0.2%.
Meanwhile, relocations as part of the Juncker plan were at a standstill: only 2,654 refugees were transferred from Italy to other European countries in over a year, compared to the 40,000 transfers planned to span two years.
Italy is awaiting a decision by individual member states on 1,394 other requests, while an additional 1,122 applicants have already been approved and are awaiting transfer.(ANSAmed).
Received on Thu Jan 05 2017 - 19:54:07 EST