Migration Crisis Contents

Key Facts

An estimated 227,316 migrants had entered Europe by sea in 2016 up to the beginning of July, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain, with Libya as the main departure point, followed by Egypt. 2,920 deaths of migrants were recorded in the same period.1
According to the UNHCR, over 65 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes by conflict and persecution at the end of 2015, including 21 million refugees outside their countries of origin. 86% of refugees under UNHCR’s mandate in 2015 were in low and middle income countries close to situations of conflict.2
There were 1,255,640 first time applications for asylum in EU member states in 2015, up from 562,680 in 2014.3
The top three countries of citizenship of asylum applicants in the EU in 2015 were Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, who together comprised more than half of all applications.4
In 2015, there were 38,370 first time asylum applications in the UK, amounting to 3.1% of the EU total.5
In January 2016, 55% of the irregular migrants arriving in the EU were women and minors, an increase of 34% compared to 2015.6

2 UNHCR press release, 20 June 2016, “With 1 human in every 113 affected, forced displacement hits record high”

3 Eurostat News Release, 4 March 2016, Asylum in the EU Members States

4 Eurostat News Release, 4 March 2016, Asylum in the EU Members States

5 Eurostat News Release, 4 March 2016, Asylum in the EU Members States

28 July 2016