No end in sight: More than 1 million migrants entered Europe this year

More than one million migrants and refugees have entered Europe this year, according to an intergovernmental organisation. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says the million mark was crossed on Monday - a more than a four-fold increase in comparison with last year. The actual number of arrivals recorded as having entered the continent by 21 December was 1,005,504. Nearly 3,700 others died trying to cross the Mediterranean amid Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II, it added.

The situation is expected to worsen with the onset of winter – especially for children. We urge European states to focus on immediate humanitarian needs on the ground, especially for children.

Save the Children Campaigns Director, Kirsty McNeill

The Geneva-based group says more than 800,000 crossed into Greece from Turkey during 2015, including more than 455,000 from Syria and over 186,000 from Afghanistan. Germany has seen around one million migrants arrive this year, but that figure includes large numbers of people from Balkan countries who arrived earlier in the year. The vast majority of the arrivals from outside Europe have used the so-called Balkan corridor - a route that takes migrants from Greece, through Macedonia, Serbia, and then either Croatia and Slovenia or Hungary to Austria and Germany.

The concern I have about a lot of statements that are being made on the public record right now is that it puts migrant lives at risk.

IOM director general, William Lacy Swing

Europe migration