Number of irregular migrants trying to enter EU at 6-year high in 2022

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – The number of attempts by irregular migrants to enter the EU was the highest in six years in 2022, the bloc’s border and coast guard agency Frontex said on Friday.

A Frontex statement said around 330,000 irregular border crossings were detected at the EU’s external borders last year.

The figure marked a 64% jump from the previous year and was the highest since 2016.

“The Western Balkan route accounted for nearly half of the total. Syrians, Afghans and Tunisians together accounted for 47% of the detections in 2022,” the agency said.

The number of Syrians roughly doubled to 94,000, it added.

According to Frontex, almost 13 million Ukrainian refugees were counted on entry at the EU’s external land borders from Ukraine and Moldova between Feb. 24, when the war with Russia began, and until the end of the year.