United Nations figures show big drop in number of migrants arriving in Europe

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

LONDON — The number of migrants who entered Europe in the first half of 2017 is 35% of the number a year ago, new figures show.

The United Nations' migration agency said 73,189 migrants entered Europe by sea through Sunday. Of those, 85% landed in Italy while the rest disembarked in Greece, Cyprus and Spain.

In the same time period in 2016, 211,433 migrants arrived in Europe by sea, the International Organization for Migration said. Those arriving were from countries including Nigeria, Bangladesh, Senegal and Sudan.

The number of people entering Europe via Greece has dwindled since the EU signed a deal with Turkey in March 2016 to send Syrian refugees who arrive on the Greek islands back to Turkey. The agreement came soon after the Balkan migration route, which helped more than 1 million migrants enter Europe in 2015, was closed.

About 850,000 of the 2015 arrivals, predominantly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, landed in Greece after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. More people are now undertaking the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy, fleeing conflict and poverty, figures show.

Fabrice Leggeri, the head of Frontex, the European Union's border agency, told AFP in an interview published Tuesday that 80 or 100 people now arrive on the Greek islands each day, “whereas we had 2,500 a day” before. He said the numbers crossing the Mediterranean from Africa are up by over 40%.

“It's not the poorest who leave, because they have to be able to pay the smugglers," Leggeri told AFP. He said smugglers can charge $3,400 to transport a person from the Horn of Africa to Italy.

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