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Mixed Migration Flows in the Mediterranean - Compilation of Available Data and Information January 2020

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IOM
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HIGHLIGHTS

A total of 8,2231 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe through different land and sea routes in January 2020, almost the same trend registered in January 2019, when 8,176 sea and land arrivals were reported, and 5 per cent less than the 8,680 arrivals registered both in January 2018 and January 2017.

There were 3,963 registered arrivals via the Eastern Mediterranean route (48% of total registered arrivals in Europe) in Bulgaria and Greece in January 2020. Another 2,365 arrivals were registered via the Western Mediterranean route2 (29%) leading to Spain, and 1,895 were registered crossing the Central Mediterranean route (23%), arriving by sea to Italy and Malta in the same period. Hence, the Eastern Mediterranean route continues to surpass both the Western and Central Mediterranean routes as the main route taken by migrants and refugees travelling to Europe by sea and land, as it has done each month since February 2019. In January 2019, the Western Mediterranean route was recorded as the most active with 4,612 arrivals (56% of the total), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean route with 3,313 registered arrivals (41%) and the Central Mediterranean route with 251 registered arrivals (3%). In January 2018, 48 per cent of all arrivals in Europe were registered on the Central Mediterranean route (4,182), while arrivals on the Eastern Mediterranean route were 2,316 (27%) and on Western Mediterranean 2,182 (25%).

Hellenic Authorities reported 3,898 new arrivals in January 2020, which makes Greece the top arrival country in Europe so far in 2020. Arrivals in Greece are 43 per cent less than the previous month (December 2019), 52 per cent higher than the 2,568 registered in January 2019, and almost two times the 1,978 reported in January 2018. Of all registered arrivals in Greece in January 2020, 83 per cent arrived by sea and the remaining 17 per cent were by land. According to available data, the most frequently registered nationality of sea arrivals to Greece by sea in January 2020 was Afghanistan (52%) followed by the Syrian Arab Republic (20%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (3%), and others.

Authorities in Bulgaria registered 65 new arrivals in 2020, slightly less than the previous month (82 in December 2019) and also similar to the same month of last year (60 in January 2019). 1 Data on arrivals to Cyprus in January 2020 are not available at the time of closing this report. 2 Arrivals to Spain include arrivals to the Canary Islands.
A total of 2,365 migrants and refugees were registered entering Spain in January 2020, which is 14 per cent less than the previous month (2,738 in December 2019), half of the 4,612 registered in the period of 2019 and 8 per cent more than the 2,182 registered in the same period of 2018. Among the total arrivals to Spain in 2019, 78 per cent arrived by sea (708, or 38% of arrivals by sea were registered in the Canary Islands) and the remaining 22 per cent arrived by land to the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the north coast of Africa.

Italian authorities reported the 1,342 arrivals in January 2020. Arrivals in this period have increased more than two times in comparison with the previous month (598 in December 2019), are six times higher than the 202 registered in January 2019 and are just 32 per cent of the 4,182 registered arrivals to Italy in January 2018. The most frequently registered nationality of migrants arriving at Italy in January 2020 has been Algeria (19%), followed by Côte d’Ivoire (14%), Bangladesh (10%), and other African and Southern Asian countries. In addition, there were 553 registered arrivals in Malta in January 2020, a significant increase compared to the 97 of the previous month (December 2019) and of the 49 registered in January 2019. According to available data from national authorities, Sudan was the most frequently reported nationality at arrival in January 2020 (33%), followed by Bangladesh (11%) and Somalia (11%).

In addition to first-arrival countries, authorities in countries and areas in the Western Balkans region continue to report a decrease in monthly registrations of new migrants and refugees since October 2019. Reported registrations in January 2020 were 6,604, which is 8 per cent less than the 7,151 reported in December 2019 but more than twice as compared to the 2,746 reported in January last year and almost five times higher than the 1,383 reported in January 2018. Nationals of Afghanistan continue to be the most frequently reported among migrants and refugees intercepted transiting the Western Balkans in January 2020, as has been the case each month since October 2019, and particularly in Serbia (57%), North Macedonia (38%) and Croatia (25%). Nationals of Morocco are also prominent among those recorded transiting the region, particularly in Montenegro (73%), Albania (46%), Slovenia (31%), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (27%). Syrian nationals are the third most frequently registered in the Western Balkans in January 2020, and the most common nationality of those registered in Kosovo3 (58%).