Greece became the new epicentre of Europe’s migration crisis over the summer of 2015. The pace was kept up until February 2016. But the closure of the so-called Balkan route into northern Europe in February started a reversal of the trend which was then reinforced dramatically by the EU-Turkey deal on migration in March. Arrivals to Greece dropped from 61,074 throughout February to just 1,465 arrivals during the whole month of May.


Since the beginning of the year the Eastern Mediterranean route was used by more than 150,000 asylum seekers (mostly Syrians, Afghan and Iraqi) trying to reach the Greek Islands.


The Central Mediterranean has remained more or less stable compared to last year, following some instability in the main sending sites on the Western side of the Tripolitania coast during the first four months of the year. May was the busiest month of the year so far with 19,884 migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. This increase is predictable based on historical patterns which have seen numbers starting to rise significantly during this month ahead of the summer during which smugglers tend to make the most of the improved weather conditions. The migrants crossing the Central Mediterranean towards Italy come mainly from West Africa: Nigeria, Gambia, Somalia, Côte d’Ivoire and Eritrea.