Arrivals and routes
Irregular entry routes into the European Union, with the monthly series since 2009 and the breakdown by declared nationality.
Before reading these figures. Frontex counts border crossings, not people. The file says so itself: the same person may cross the external border several times, and no system tracks individual movements. These figures cannot be added to the Italian Ministry of the Interior's landings or to UNHCR data, which count people.
Detections at irregular border crossings in the EU, January–July of each year since 2009
Detections recorded by Frontex at all the external borders of the Union, summed over January–July, the same months for every year.
This is the longest series on the site: it is here to give today its measure. The comparison is month-for-month and the axis starts at zero. Frontex counts detections, not people.
View the data as a table
| Period | detections |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 61,994 |
| 2010 | 50,770 |
| 2011 | 85,342 |
| 2012 | 47,028 |
| 2013 | 47,736 |
| 2014 | 123,151 |
| 2015 | 345,948 |
| 2016 | 388,805 |
| 2017 | 132,482 |
| 2018 | 77,953 |
| 2019 | 55,687 |
| 2020 | 52,777 |
| 2021 | 83,355 |
| 2022 | 151,227 |
| 2023 | 176,527 |
| 2024 | 116,553 |
| 2025 | 97,569 |
| 2026 | 63,871 |
Which routes, year by year: January–July from 2009 to 2026
The same detections as the chart above, split by entry route. The height of each band is its route, the total height is the total.
This shows something the total hides: the total can fall while a single route rises. In 2015 almost every detection was on the Eastern Mediterranean; today they are split across several routes. The colours separate the bands and mean nothing: no route is worse than another.
View the data as a table
| Route | Detections |
|---|---|
| Central Mediterranean | 740,943 |
| Eastern Mediterranean | 649,733 |
| Western Balkans | 449,442 |
| Western Mediterranean | 131,738 |
| Albania-Greece | 78,361 |
| West African Atlantic | 71,275 |
| Eastern borders | 36,929 |
| Black Sea | 330 |
| Other | 24 |
Routes compared, January–July 2026
Detections recorded by Frontex at the external borders of the Union, split by entry route.
The two bars are the same period in two different years, on the same scale: they compare with each other and with every other route. The line on the right is the trend over the same months since 2015, and each route has its own scale: it tells you whether that route is rising or falling, not how big it is compared with the others — the bars say that. Frontex counts detections, not people: someone who crosses several times is counted several times.
View the data as a table
| Route | Detections |
|---|---|
| Eastern Mediterranean | 21,240 |
| Central Mediterranean | 16,639 |
| Western Mediterranean | 12,876 |
| Western Balkans | 4,841 |
| West African Atlantic | 4,682 |
| Eastern borders | 3,247 |
| Albania-Greece | 330 |
| Black Sea | 16 |
| Other | 0 |
Eastern Mediterranean: detections by month
The full monthly series published by Frontex for this route.
The axis starts at zero. The most recent month may be revised later: Frontex publishes updates as member states consolidate their figures.
View the data as a table
| Period | detections |
|---|---|
| 2023-08 | 8,048 |
| 2023-09 | 12,971 |
| 2023-10 | 8,659 |
| 2023-11 | 5,917 |
| 2023-12 | 6,796 |
| 2024-01 | 4,410 |
| 2024-02 | 5,355 |
| 2024-03 | 3,878 |
| 2024-04 | 3,868 |
| 2024-05 | 4,659 |
| 2024-06 | 3,631 |
| 2024-07 | 5,562 |
| 2024-08 | 7,478 |
| 2024-09 | 8,732 |
| 2024-10 | 9,130 |
| 2024-11 | 8,200 |
| 2024-12 | 5,045 |
| 2025-01 | 3,695 |
| 2025-02 | 2,853 |
| 2025-03 | 3,235 |
| 2025-04 | 2,555 |
| 2025-05 | 3,560 |
| 2025-06 | 5,020 |
| 2025-07 | 7,150 |
| 2025-08 | 4,105 |
| 2025-09 | 5,390 |
| 2025-10 | 5,637 |
| 2025-11 | 3,638 |
| 2025-12 | 5,664 |
| 2026-01 | 2,276 |
| 2026-02 | 1,741 |
| 2026-03 | 2,678 |
| 2026-04 | 1,985 |
| 2026-05 | 3,937 |
| 2026-06 | 4,935 |
| 2026-07 | 3,688 |
Nationalities declared on landing in Italy, 2026
Nationalities declared on landing, cumulative since 1 January.
This is the declared nationality, not a verified one. The «Other» entry covers every nationality beyond the top fifteen and exists so the figures add up to the total.
View the data as a table
| Nationality | people |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 5,465 |
| Somalia | 2,542 |
| Algeria | 2,504 |
| Sudan | 1,671 |
| Altre | 1,657 |
| Pakistan | 1,467 |
| Eritrea | 1,430 |
| Egitto | 1,354 |
| Tunisia | 1,161 |
| Mali | 425 |
| Nigeria | 354 |
| Costa d'Avorio | 305 |
| Etiopia | 303 |
| Iran | 301 |
| Sud Sudan | 254 |
| Guinea | 252 |