Humanitarian migration crisis in Europe – main routes and migrant groups

Abstrakti

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Europe will record in 2015 an unprecedented number of asylum seekers and refugees with up to one million asylum applications. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 871,623 people have been travelling to Europe through various transit routes across Africa, Asia or the Middle East. An estimated 832,193 arrivals by sea have been reported, with Italy (142,484) and Greece (685,758) receiving the majority of the individuals since the start of 2015. Tragically 3,519 migrants are known to have drowned or remain missing.