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Greece + 6 more

Greece Aegean Islands Weekly Snapshot: 06 – 12 January 2020

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Arrivals

This week, 508 people arrived on the Aegean islands, a decrease from last week’s 1,091 arrivals but an increase from last year’s 198 arrivals during the same period. The average daily arrivals on all islands this week equalled 72, compared to 156 in the previous week.

Present Population on the Islands

Some 41,300 refugees and asylumseekers reside on the Aegean islands. The majority of the population on the Aegean islands are from Afghanistan (48%), Syria (20%) and Palestine (6%).

Women account for 21% of the population, and children for 29% of whom more than 6 out of 10 are younger than 12 years old.

Approximately 15% of the children are unaccompanied or separated, mainly from Afghanistan.

Entry Points by Sea

Lesvos received the highest number of arrivals (214), followed by Samos (138), Dodecanese Islands (111), and Chios with (44) people.

This week, 533 asylum-seekers departed, once authorised by the authorities, from the Aegean islands to the mainland. Of those, 172 were transferred by the Government with the support of UNHCR to open reception facilities/sites and to ESTIA apartments currently managed by UNHCR that are to be handed over to the Government.