In May, the number of detections of illegal border crossings on Europe’s main migratory routes was roughly in line with the previous month at 6 500. The total for the first five months of 2019 was 31% lower than a year ago at around 32 400.
Eastern Mediterranean
The Eastern Mediterranean route accounted for nearly half of
irregular migrants arriving at EU borders in May. It remained the busiest
migratory route into Europe with 3 100 detections.
In the first five months of this year, the total number of
detections in this region was also down by one-fifth from a year ago to close
to 16 700.
One out of four migrants detected on this route were nationals of Afghanistan, usually arriving by sea. Migrants from Turkey remained the second most represented nationality on this route, although their numbers fell in May as land crossings decreased.
Western Mediterranean Sea
The number of irregular migrants taking the Western
Mediterranean Sea in May rose by 60% from the previous month to almost 1 500.
The total for the January-May period stood at nearly 8 000, roughly in line with the figure from the same period of last year.
Nationals of Morocco, Guinea, Mali and Algeria accounted for the largest number of detected migrants on this route in the first five months of 2019.
