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MIXED MIGRATION FLOWS TO EUROPE
Between July and September 2018, a total of 45,092 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe, 14 per cent more than the 39,402 registered in the second quarter and two and a half times the 18,956 registered in the first three months of the year. More than a half (53%) of arrivals were registered as land and sea arrivals to Spain (24,361). Greece has received the second largest caseload of arrivals (14,226), three times more than 4,447 arrivals registered in Italy during this reporting period (July – September 2018).
Available data shows that an increase is observed in arrivals to Spain, Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria, while Italy and Greece have seen a decrease in arrivals between the second and third quarter of the year. In Spain, authorities registered 24,361 arrivals, double the 12,966 registered in the previous quarter.
Maltese authorities registered 537 migrants and refugees, more than double the 235 registered between April and June while and in Cyprus, arrivals increased six times, from 61 reported in the second quarter to 431 registered between July and September. Further on, land arrivals to Bulgaria tripled in the third quarter of the year, from 354 registered between April and June to 1,090 registered between July and September 2018.
In contrast to that, arrivals in Italy halved between the two periods (10,281 in Q2 to 4,447 in Q3) while arrivals in Greece slightly decreased (15,556 in Q2 vs. 14,226 in Q3).
Overall arrivals in the third quarter this year represent 5 per cent increase in comparison to the 43,128 registered in the same period 2017 and are almost half the 81,534 reported in the same period in 2016 and just 1/9 of the 382,621 registered between July and September 2015.
Since the beginning of 2018, a total of 103,450 migrants and refugees were registered arriving in Europe through different land and sea routes. Some 40 per cent of the overall arrivals were registered in Spain where between January and September authorities reported arrival of a total of 42,311 migrants and refugees, predominantly from SubSaharan Africa (30%), Morocco (23%) and Guinea Conakry (15%). Greece is second to follow with a total of 37,125 arrivals this year, exceeding at this point the 35,052 arrivals registered in the whole of 2017 (23,333 at the end of Q3 2017). Similarly, as in previous years, migrants from the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and Afghanistan are the most common nationalities declared by migrants registered in Greece (28%, 24% and 20% respectively).
Despite the observed increase this year, overall arrivals in Greece at the end of the third quarter this year are only 1/5 of the 169,207 reported in the same period in 2016 and a small fraction of 384,093 registered in the same period 2015. However, 13,784 land arrivals from Turkey to Greece registered between January and September 2018, represent the highest number of land arrivals for the respective period but also when looking into the overall yearly land arrivals since 2015.
Italian authorities registered arrival of 21,024 migrants and refu- 1 See here: Q2 Overview for 2017, Q2 Overview for 2016. 2 The information on nationality breakdown provided in this report is based on the nationality breakdown declared by migrants as reported by the Italian Ministry of Interior. gees this year, mainly from Tunisia (21%), Eritrea (14%) and Sudan (8%). The structure of arrivals has changed in comparison to the same period last year when Nigeria (16%), Guinea Conakry (10%), Bangladesh (10%) and Côte d'Ivoire (9%) were the most commonly reported origin countries.
21,024 arrivals in Italy this year represent 80 per cent decrease compared to the 105,409 registered in the same period in 2017; 84 per cent decreased to 132,043 reported in 2016 and only 1/14 of the 302,171 registered in 2015. In Bulgaria, authorities registered 1,679 irregular migrants, a 16 per cent decrease compared to the 2,081 registered last year and 87 per cent less than the 13,438 registered in 2016. Available data for Cyprus shows that 539 migrants and refugees arrived this year, 60 per cent less than 819 reported in the same period last year and five times more than the 106 reported in 2016.
In contrast to that, authorities in Malta. Maltese authorities registered 772 new migrants and refugees this year, significantly higher than the 20 registered last year and the highest figure reported since 2013 when 2,008 migrants and refugees arrived.
Intensified transit through the Western Balkans continued during this reporting period when a total of 9,577 migrants and refugees were registered in Albania (247), Montenegro (1,406) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (7,924) reaching a total of 20,852 since the beginning of the year. Overall registered irregular migrants in the region represent 13 times increase compared to the 1,521 registered between January and September 2017. Majority of migrants arrived from Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq.
Estimated 69,393 migrants and refugees were registered residing in different reception facilities in Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Romania at the end of September 2018. This represents a slight (3%) increase compared to 67,289 reported at the end of the second quarter. In contrast to that, a snapshot of occupancy in the past two years, shows that this year there are slightly less migrants in the countries concerned. Some 70,372 were residing in the reception centers in the region at the end of September 2017 and 73,286 were reported at the end of September 2016. In addition to that, some 155,619 migrants and refugees were registered residing in different reception facilities in Italy.