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Profiling of Afghan arrivals on Greek islands in January 2016

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CONTEXT

In the month of January 2016, 60,000 people made the journey across the Mediterranean to Greece. In 2015, there were 856,000 sea arrivals. UNHCR iniGated a data collecGon and analysis exercise with support from the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS) in order to beQer inform the wider community on the profile of refugees arriving to Greece, and improve immediate response and longer term planning.
The exercise focused on Syrian and Afghan arrivals, and this factsheet illustrates the results of interviews with AFGHANS during January 2016.

METHODOLOGY

The profiling exercise was implemented on the islands that are receiving the majority of the arrivals to Greece: Chios, Leros, Lesvos, and Samos. The survey was administered in locations on each island where all arrivals pass. The survey was not administered while individuals waited in line (e.g., for registration) and minors and persons with mental disabilities were interviewed in the presence of a caretaker.

A systematic random sampling was utilized and the enumerators interviewed respondents at regular intervals. The methodology was designed using the individual as unit of analysis. The purpose of the methodology is to provide a representative sample over the period of one month. Data by Greek authorities on age and gender breakdown of the Syrian and Afghan populations arriving during the same period on the islands were used to apply weights to the data collected, to ensure a representation of each age and gender group based on the actual distribution of arrivals.
The methodology was tested and closely monitored throughout the data collection period. Two teams of Farsi/Dari speaking enumerators based in Chios and Lesvos interviewed 191 Afghans from 15 to 31 January. The number of interviews done in January is not sufficient for the results to be representative of the whole Afghans population arriving to Greece that month. The January results illustrated in this factsheet are, therefore, only representative of the interviewed population. This analysis, however, provides indications to the humanitarian community on the "profile" of Afghans arriving in Greece between 15 and 31 January 2016.

This exercise will be repeated each month for the first half of 2016 and results will be analyzed at the end of each month to give a profile of the arrivals from the main nationalities.