Frontex Publishes Analysis of Migratory Trends at the EU External Borders for Q3, 2011
Warsaw, 18 January 2012 – Over 38 000 migrants were detected crossing illegally into the EU in the third quarter of 2011 (Q3), which constitutes an 11% increase in comparison to the same period last year. Consistent with recent trends the majority of migrants entered the EU in a small number of hotspots such as land border between Greece and Turkey in the Evros region and the Italian island of Lampedusa in Central Mediterranean.
Afghan nationals remain the top nationality and in Q3 2011 represented almost a quarter of all irregular migrants detected at the EU borders. Moreover, in Q3 2011 there was a sevenfold increase in the number of Pakistani nationals who now rank second. The intelligence gathered suggests that most of the migrants from Pakistan are young, educated men from the North Easter part of the country who were unemployed in their country. Most were headed to Germany, Belgium, Italy, UK and France. Another new trend is a tenfold increase, in comparison with Q3 in 2010, in the number of Nigerians, who were detected mostly in Italy.
Eastern Mediterranean
There were over 18 000 detections at the Greek –Turkish border. Afghan nationals remain the most numerous group, amounting to over 46% of detections, followed by Pakistanis. Greece remains a transit country for most migrants who tend to move from there to other Member States. In Q3 increasing numbers of migrants were detected illegally re-entering Schengen from the Western Balkans (in particular from Serbia to Hungary and from Croatia to Slovenia), crossing the Ionian Sea to southern Italy and using false documents on intra-Schengen flights from Greece to other EU countries.
Central Mediterranean
The situation in the Central Mediterranean has been highly volatile throughout 2011. The number of detections on the Italian island of Lampedusa, which has been the main destination of migrants from the beginning of the year, dropped by half in comparison with the previous quarter but still amounted to over 12 000 arrivals. It is worth noting that since the National Transitional Council successfully gained control of Tripoli, the flows of migrants from Libya stopped abruptly at the beginning of August. Following the fall of the Khadafy’s regime migrants came mostly from Tunisia and Egypt. Migrants from Tunisia remain the most significant nationality with 3370 detections, followed by some 3000 Nigerians. The growing number of Nigerians detected at the European borders suggests that Nigerian facilitation networks are becoming more sophisticated and the numbers of migrants are likely to increase.
Western Mediterranean
Spain experienced the highest level of detections in three years, and an increase of 60% compared to year ago, with over 3 500 detections of North African and sub-Saharan migrants. As a result, the Western Mediterranean is now the third largest point of entry into the EU.
Other
The number of applications for international protection increased significantly in Q3 and reached over 64 000 applications across the Member States. The largest number of applications was submitted in Italy by nationals of Nigeria, Ghana, Mali and Pakistan. Numbers of applications submitted by nationals of Pakistan and Afghanistan also increased in other Member States, including Germany and Austria.