Europe — Mixed Migration Flows to Europe, The Mediterranean Digest (January — October 2016)

Looking at cumulative arrivals, the number of migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan (SIA) is decreasing and the number from Africa, particularly Nigeria and Eritrea, is increasing. At the end of May, migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan made up 68.5% of arrivals, but by the end of August that number dropped to just half (51.6%), with an increasing share of arrivals being occupied by Nigerians (8.1%) and Eritreans (5.6%). Importantly, this breakdown varied by country of first arrival. While Greece received more migrants from Syria (48%), Afghanistan (25%) and Iraq (16%), Italy received a much greater variety of nationalities, from Nigeria (17%), Eritrea (13%), the Gambia (8%) and other countries. These changes are closely linked with the closure of the Western Balkan route in March 2016 and to the EU-Turkey agreement (18 March).