EU external borders: Irregular border crossings fall nearly 40% this year

The number of irregular border crossings into the European Union in the first seven months of 2024 fell by 36% to 113 400, according to the preliminary data collected by Frontex. The biggest drops in irregular border crossings were seen on the Western Balkans and Central Mediterranean routes, at 75% and 64% respectively. Frontex remains committed to protecting the EU's external borders, with 2 900 officers and staff involved in various operations throughout Europe.

Key highlights for the first seven months of 2024:

• Central Mediterranean saw a 64% drop (y/y) in detections.
• Western Balkans also continued to show a strong decrease (-75%), biggest drop among the main migratory routes to the EU.
• Eastern Land Border and Western African route showed the highest rises of 195% and 154%.
• Top three nationalities this year: Syria, Mali, Afghanistan.

The Central Mediterranean route has recorded a significant downward trend in recent months. For the January-July period, this migratory route saw a 64% drop in crossings to 32 200. Nevertheless, the Central Mediterranean remains the most active migratory route to the EU. This year's decrease can be attributed mainly to preventive measures by the Tunisian and Libyan authorities to disrupt the activities of smugglers. Arrivals from those two countries account for 95% of all migrants reported on the Central Mediterranean route.

The number of detections on the Western Balkan route also continued to fall significantly in the January-July period and was down as much as 75% to just over 12 400.

Meanwhile, the Western African route continued to record unprecedented numbers of detections, with the total of irregular migrants arriving in the Canary Islands in the first seven months increasing by 154% year-on-year to over 21 600.

The Eastern Mediterranean was the second most active migratory route this year, with the number of arrivals increasing by 57% to almost 29 700.

The Eastern Land Borders continued to note a significant number of arrivals this year with 195% increase to around 9 500.

On the Channel route, the number of detections in the first seven months of 2024 increased by 22% to reach 33 183.

Note: The preliminary data presented in this statement refer to the number of detections of irregular border crossing at the external borders of the European Union. The same person may cross the border several times in different locations at the external border.