Irregular migration to the EU and COVID-19

• Author: Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
• Pages: 466-468

ATLAS OF MIGRATION 2020 / COVID-19 AND MIGRATION

466

5. IRREGULAR MIGRATION TO THE EU

AND COVID-19

Overrecentyearsirregularbordercrossingshavebeena

keypoliticalconcern forseveralEUMember Statesand

theirpopulations.This sectionexamines thenumberof

irregularbordercrossingsduringtheCOVID-19pandemic

comparedwithpreviousyears.

2020representsadeclinewhencomparedwiththenumber

ofirregularbordercrossingsin2019butthisisnotuniform

acrossdierent routes. As shown in Figure 17, there

hadbeen63 000detectionsof peoplemaking irregular

bordercrossingsinthersteightmonthsof2020.Thisis

considerablylowerthaninpreviousyearsandsignicantly

lessthanthe1.8milliondetectionsof2015.Thenumberof

detectionsduringthersteightmonthsof2020was11

lowerthanthesameperiodinthepreviousyear.

Changesinthenumberofcrossingsdetectedhavevaried

onthemajorroutestotheEU-27, asshowninFigure17

and18.Particularlysignicantisafallindetectedcrossings

ontheEasternMediterraneanRoute,fromover39029in

2019to14584in2020.Thenumberofdetectedcrossings

ontheWesternMediterraneanroutewasalso6645lower

in2020thanthepreviousyear.

Butthenumber ofdetected crossingsincreasedon the

CentralMediterranean,WesternAfricaandWesternBalkan

routes.Onthe CentralMediterraneanroute inparticular

thenumberofdetectedcrossingsintherst8monthsof

2020wasthreetimeshigherthanforthesameperiodin

2019(althoughthisisconsiderablylowerthanduringthe

periodof2014to2017whenover110000crossingswere

FIGURE 17. ANNUAL NUMBER OF IRREGULAR CROSSINGS OF THE EU

EXTERNALBORDERSBYROUTE.

SOURCE:FRONTEX-IRREGULARBORDERCROSSINGS(IBCS)

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

72 382

-49%

107 335

48%

282 861

164%

511 046

-72%

204 653

-60% 149 036

-27% 63 0

65

-56

%

1 822 170

544%

141 738

-5%

140 988

Only rst eight

months of 2020

Pisellone

Route



  

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

72 382

-49%

107 335

48%

282 861

164%

511 046

-72%

204 653

-60% 149 036

-27% 63 065

-56%

1 822 170

544%

141 738

-5%

140 988

Only rst eight

months of 2020

Pisellone

Route

Black Sea Route

Central Mediterranean Route

Circular Route from Albania to Greece

Eastern Borders Route

Eastern Mediterranean Route

Western African Route

Western Balkan Route

Western Mediterranean Route



  

63065(-11)

Route Year

Black Sea Route 2019

2020

Central Mediterranean

Route

2019

2020

Circular Route from Albania

to Greece

2019

2020

Eastern Borders Route 2019

2020

Eastern Mediterranean

Route

2019

2020

Western African Route 2019

2020

Western Balkan Route 2019

2020

Western Mediterranean

Route

2019

2020

0

1

21 134

7 031

745

1 347

277

477

14 584

39 029

3 932

633

13 671

6 875

8 722

15 367

ars_Routes

Route



  

68%

32%

73%

27%

PIES_Routes (2)

Type

Sea

Land

Value

63 065

66 000

68 000

70 760

% of Total Value broken down by Year. olor shows details about Type. Size shows sum of

Value. The marks are labeled by % of Total Value. The data is ltered on Route and Month.

The Route lter keeps 8 of 9 members. The Month lter excludes DE, NOV, OT and SEP.

The view is ltered on Year, which keeps 2019 and 2020.

68%

32%

73%

27%

PIES_Routes (2)

Type

Sea

Land

Value

63 065

66 000

68 000

70 760

% of Total Value broken down by Year. olor shows details about Type. Size shows sum of

Value. The marks are labeled by % of Total Value. The data is ltered on Route and Month.

The Route lter keeps 8 of 9 members. The Month lter excludes DE, NOV, OT and SEP.

The view is ltered on Year, which keeps 2019 and 2020.

JAN-AUG 2019

FIGURE 18. NUMBEROFIRREGULARCROSSINGSOFTHEEUEXTERNALBORDERSOVERTHEFIRST8MONTHSOF2020ANDTHESAMEPERIOD

OFTHEPREVIOUSYEAR.BREACKDOWNBYSEA/LAND(PIECHARTSONTHELEFT);BREACKDOWNBYROUTE(BARCHARTONTHERIGHT).

SOURCE:FRONTEX-IRREGULARBORDERCROSSINGS(IBCS)

SEA

LAND

70760(-24)

JAN-AUG 2020