Switzerland - IOM reports that 354,804 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 13 December, arriving mostly in Greece and Italy..

Some 176,678 people have arrived by sea in Italy in 2016 - more than in either 2014 or 2015. Some 172,681 migrants and refugees arrived by sea in Greece during the same period, far fewer than in 2015.

Mediterranean Developments

Total arrivals by sea and deaths in the Mediterranean 2015-2016

IOM Rome reported Monday 1,826 migrants were rescued at sea between Italy and Libya this past weekend. By late Monday they were being brought ashore. The Italian coastguard ship “Diciotti” recovered six corpses from a dinghy carrying 165 migrants.

IOM Athens reported Monday a slight uptick in the number of migrants and refugees arriving by sea on the Greek islands over the weekend. On Friday IOM recorded arrivals of 138 migrants or refugees on Lesvos, 67 on Chios and 125 on Kalymnos for a single-day total of 305.  Over the following two days, a total of 117 arrivals were recorded.

The total number of migrant and refugee fatalities in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2016 is now 4,742, including the deaths of those six migrants whose remains were discovered in a rubber dinghy over the weekend. This is 1,141 more deaths than at this point last year, when 3,665 people were reported drowned through 14 December 2015.

In related news, the German Ministry of Interior reported on Friday that for the month of November, Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq and Nigeria were the top five countries of origin for asylum seekers in Germany.

For the month, 17,566 arrivals of asylum seekers were registered in Germany, a slight deviation from the general trend of a decrease in numbers of arrivals, especially earlier in the year, when over 150,000 asylum seekers were recorded during the first nine weeks of 2016 (Oct: 15,178; Sept: 15,618; Aug: 18,143; July: 16,160; June: 16,335; May: 16,281; April: 15,941; March: 20,608; Feb: 61,428; Jan: 91,671).

The Ministry presented a consolidated figure of arrivals in September, showing that in the first three quarters of 2016, only 213,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany - barely 24 percent of all of 2015’s arrivals (890,000 from Jan-Dec).

For 2016, the top arriving nationalities were:

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic: 

http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/Mediterranean_Update_13_DEC_2016.pdf

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe  

Learn more about the Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For further information please contact:

Joel Millman at IOM Geneva, Tel: +41.79.103-8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int

Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int 

Sabine Schneider, IOM Germany, Tel. +49 30 278 778 17  Email: sschneider@iom.int

IOM Greece: Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email: iomathens@iom.int or Kelly Namia, Tel: +30 210 9919040, +30 210 9912174, Email: knamia@iom.int 

Julia Black at IOM GMDAC, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int

Mazen Aboulhosn at IOM Turkey, Tel: +9031245-51202, Email: maboulhosn@iom.int

IOM Libya: Othman Belbeisi, Tel +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int  or Ashraf Hassan, Tel: +216297 94707, Email: ashassan@iom.int

For information or interview requests in French:

Florence Kim, OIM Genève, Tel: +41 79 103 03 42, Email: fkim@iom.int

Flavio Di Giacomo, OIM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int