25 July 2017, 08:16 GMT
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A total of 114,287 migrants arrived in Europe via sea in January-July 2017, with the majority of them coming to Italy, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday.
"IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 114,287 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 30 July, with almost 85 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This compares with 256,828 arrivals across the region through 30 July 2016," the IOM press release read.
23 July 2017, 06:14 GMT
According to the press release, the number of migrants, who died in the Mediterranean en route to Europe, totaled 2,385 people, which is over 700 people less compared to the same period last year, when the number of migrants' deaths reached 3,047. The organization also reported that a total of 10,781 people arrived to Europe by sea in July 2017, stressing the significant decrease by almost 13,000 arrivals compared to July 2016 and 2015.
Since 2015, Europe has been experiencing the worst migration crisis in its history, struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing hostilities in the Middle Eastern and North African countries.
