Europe — Mixed Migration Flows to Europe, Quarterly Overview (January - March 2021)

In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 17,391 of migrants and refugees were registered arriving through the three Mediterranean routes and the Western African Atlantic route to Europe, which is 7 per cent less than the 18,641 arrivals registered in the same period in 2020, and 3 per cent less than the 17,889 registered in Q1 of 2019. Arrivals in Q1 of 2021 decreased by 53 per cent compared to the previous reporting period (37,454 in Q4 2020). This significant decrease somewhat coincides with a deterioration of weather conditions during the first months of the year. Around (43%) of all registered individuals in Q1 of 2021 arrived in Europe through the Central Mediterranean route to Italy and Malta (7,484). Another 37 per cent reached Spain through Western Mediterranean and Western African Atlantic routes (6,518) and the remaining 19 per cent travelled through the Eastern Mediterranean route to Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria.
Compared to the same quarter of 2020, the share of arrivals through the Central Mediterranean route (CMR) and the Western Mediterranean (WMR) and Western African Atlantic route (WAAR) to Spain have increased, while the share of the arrivals through the Eastern Mediterranean route (EMR) have significantly decreased. As a comparison, the share of arrivals through the Eastern Mediterranean Route represented 53 per cent of all arrivals to Europe in Q1 2020.