the number of irregular entries into the EU in 2023 at a record level since 2016

Irregular entries into the European Union have seen an increase “significant increase” in 2023 according to Frontex, the European Border Surveillance Agency, according to its annual data published Tuesday January 16. These arrivals of illegal migrants reached their highest level last year since 2016. And for three years, they have been steadily increasing.

The European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex, has recorded 380,000 irregular entries into the European Union during 2023, the highest level in seven years. And it is by crossing the Mediterranean that most candidates for exile try to reach Europe. Thus, 41% of them take, at their own risk, the central Mediterranean route from the Libyan or Tunisian coasts, towards Malta or Italy.

80% of migrants are men

The second busiest route is that which passes through the Western Balkans: Serbia, Albania, Bosnia. This route remains very important, even if the number of migrants using it is decreasing. Unlike the Eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey to the Greek coasts. It is the third route favored by refugees who arrive in particular from Syria, Guinea and Afghanistan. These three nationalities represent more than a third of the people spotted, says Frontex, which specifies that 80% of these people are men, 10% women and 10% minors.

The central Mediterranean is the most dangerous maritime migration route in the world. More than 22,600 people have died there over the past ten years, according to the UN. The UN, including the Refugee Agency, recorded 3,760 dead or missing in the Mediterranean last year.