Western Mediterranean

Last month, the Western Mediterranean for the first time became the most active migratory route into Europe. The number of migrants reaching Spain jumped 166% from a year ago to nearly 6 400 in June. In the first half of 2018, there were some 14 700 irregular border crossings on the Western Mediterranean route, almost double the figure from a year ago.



Nationals of Morocco, Guinea and Mali accounted for the highest number of arrivals in Spain this year.



Eastern Mediterranean

In June, the number of irregular migrants taking the Eastern Mediterranean route stood at some 3 600, nearly a third fewer than in the previous month. But because of a significant increase of irregular crossings in recent months on the land borders with Turkey, the total number of migrants detected on the Eastern Mediterranean route in the first six months of the year stood at around 24 300.



The largest number of migrants on this route in the first half of the year were nationals of Syria and Iraq.



Central Mediterranean

The number of migrants arriving in Italy via the Central Mediterranean route in June fell to about 3 000, down 87% from June 2017. The total number of migrants detected on this route in the first half of 2018 fell to roughly 16 100, down 81% from a year ago.



So far this year, Tunisians and Eritreans were the two most represented nationalities on this route, together accounting for more than a third of all the detected migrants there.



Western Balkans

The main migratory route in the Western Balkans from Serbia to Hungary and Croatia continues to see low numbers of irregular migrants. However, a parallel route via Albania, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as from Serbia to Bosnia Herzegovina, has seen increased migratory pressure.



Note: The data presented in this statement refer to the number of detections of irregular border-crossing at the external borders of the European Union. The same person may attempt to cross the border several times in different locations at the external border.

