The numbers of an epochal crisis

The estimated number of migrants around the world is 230 million, that is about 3% of the global population. Even if this share has not changed much in the past 100 years, the number of migrants has increased mainly for two reasons: the world’s population has quadrupled and, since the early 1900s, the number of countries has increased from 50 to over 200 – then, the number of borders increased.

The global annual flow of migrants is estimated to be around 15 million. Most of them fit into one of the following categories: economic (6 million), student (4 million), family (2 million), and refugee/asylum (3 million). 

With reference to Europe, the Old Continent is facing an unprecedented migratory and refugee crisis: according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of migrants who have entered Europe in 2015 is more than 1 million (1.046.599). According to Frontex, the number of arrivals in 2015 would be more than 1.800.000. According to the UNHCR, more than 135.000 people reached Europe by sea in the first two months of 2016 – that is more than the number of arrivals in the first six months of 2015.
The biggest number of migrants are fleeing the Syrian conflict. However, violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, poverty in Kosovo and Albania as well as in Eritrea, terrorism in Nigeria, etc. are contributing to such a biblical exodus.

Due to its geographical position, Greece is the most exposed area for irregular migration: according to the European Commission, in 2015, more than 868.000 migrants entered into the Schengen area irregularly through the Aegean Sea. Italy received 153.842 migrants in 2015 by land and sea, while the number of arrivals in Hungary reached 391.369 according to UNHCR.

According to EU statistics, around 1 million applications for asylum were lodged in the 28 EU countries in 2015, following around 600.000 for 2014. Although these numbers sound tremendous, total first-time asylum applicants in the last 5 years amount to around 0.4% of the EU population. Germany received the highest number of new asylum applications in 2015 – with more than 476.000 (even if according to German officials, more than a million people arrived in the country) – followed by Hungary with 177.130 applications. However, Hungary had the highest number of new applications in proportion to its population, with nearly 1.800 refugees per 100.000 of its local population. Sweden followed with 1.667 per 100.000. The figure for Germany was 587 applications for every 100.000 residents. The EU average was 260.