TRENDS AND KEY FIGURES
In May, 6,300 refugees and migrants arrived to Europe, primarily via Greece, Spain and Italy. Overall arrivals to Greece increased marginally compared with the previous month (3,198 versus 3,020), while arrivals to Spain (1,928 versus 1,539) increased by 20% and those to Italy rose (255 versus 782). So far this year just over 27,800 refugees and migrants arrived to Europe via the three Mediterranean routes compared to 43,569 that arrived in the same period last year, marking a 36% decrease.
GREECE: In May, almost 3,200 refugees and migrants arrived by sea (84%) and land (16%) to Greece, with a 33% reduction in comparison to the nearly 4,735 arrivals in May 2018. As of the end of May, the 2019 arrivals to Greece (14,300) are 26% less than the same period in 2018 (19,500) and 67% more than in 2017 (8,600). Those reaching Greece in this period mainly originated from Afghanistan (40%), Iraq (13%), the Syrian Arab Republic (13.5%) and the State of Palestine (12%). In addition, the number of persons rescued or intercepted by the Turkish Coast Guards after departing from the Turkish coastline is almost 9,600 since the beginning of the year, consistent with the same period in 2018 (9,800 individuals). At the land border, 510 people arrived to Evros in May, 56% less in comparison with the previous month (1,160).
