Number of Refugees Coming to Greece, Italy Increases Fivefold in 2015

The number of refugees arriving in Greece and Italy in 2015 increased fivefold in comparison with the previous year, the EU border agency Frontex said in a statement on Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The statement added that despite the decrease in number of refugees arriving in these countries last December as compared to the previous month, the total amount of refugees was much bigger than in December, 2014.

A migrant wrapped in a blanket to keep warm, waits with other migrants and refugees to board a train heading to the border with Croatia at the train station in Presevo, on January 19, 2016, after crossing the Macedonian border into Serbia

© AFP 2023 / DIMITAR DILKOFF

"Thousands of migrants continued to arrive in Greece and Italy in December despite difficult weather conditions, bringing the total number of detections in the two countries to 1.04 million in all of 2015. This is nearly five times the figure from the previous year," the statement said.

Europe is struggling to find a solution to a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Frontex detected over 1.83 million illegal border crossings in 2015, in contrast to some 283,000 in 2014.