MADRID - Over 13,000 migrants and refugees have reached Spain by sea over the past year, travelling across the Mediterranean or by land through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Africa, according to data published Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

As of September 6, 10,276 people had reached Spain's coasts this year from 8,162 over the course of 2016.

''This year arrivals to our country will exceed those of last year, but we are not experiencing a situation of emergency or social alarm. It can't be called an invasion'', said the head of the IOM mission in Spain, Maria Jesus Herrera, in statements to the newspaper La Vanguardia.

After Greece and Italy, Spain is the third country in the European Union that registers the highest number of arrivals of illegal migrants or refugees. The Ivory Coast, Guinea, Gambia, Morocco and Mali are the main countries of origin of migrants, according to data provided by the organization.