The Italian interior ministry said the country has already surpassed 10,000 migrant arrivals in 2021, three times more than the same period last year. This figure doesn't include the 455 migrants brought to Italy by the NGO ship Sea-Watch 4.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR has launched a new data visualization showing how climate change is contributing to drive new displacement and increase the vulnerability of those already forced to flee.
Close to 27,000 asylum requests were filed in Italy in 2020 – 39% fewer than in 2019, according to the Italian Refugee Council. Roughly three in four asylum requests examined by Italian authorities were rejected.
Far fewer people applied for asylum in the European Union in 2020 than in previous years. Germany, Spain and France saw the highest number of applications; Cyprus the most per capita.
A study by the Italian chambers of commerce associations Unioncamere and Infocamere has found that one out of every ten enterprises is led by immigrants.
More than 5,300 migrants and refugees have arrived on Italy's coasts irregularly so far in 2021. That's more than twice the number of people who arrived during the same period in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of migrants intercepted and returned to Libya reportedly also increased.
The European agency Frontex reported Thursday that illegal border crossings at Europe's external borders in January fell by almost half from the previous year to about 5,800.
Asylum applications in the European Union dropped by 31% last year and fell to a record low. The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) attributed the decline mainly to coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
The overall number of foreigners who registered in Italy's civil registry in 2019 dropped by 7.3% on 2018 figures. Registrations by migrants from Africa decreased by 28%, according to the Italian statistics bureau ISTAT.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has published its latest analysis of the most recent asylum trends in Europe. In addition to COVID-19 related issues, EASO also highlighted a surge of asylum seekers coming to the EU from Belarus.
A survey by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) highlighted that the main reason Tunisian migrants leave disadvantaged neighborhoods is in order to provide financial support for the family. Those who leave residential neighborhoods, on the other hand, are more likely to depart due to the desire to buy a home and improve their living conditions.
Migrant arrivals from Tunisia in Italy have increased significantly this year, a new report by FTDES has found. The number of undocumented migrants rose 180% compared to the same month last year.