Who are the million migrants who entered Europe without a visa in 2015?

Author: Philippe Fargues

In 2015, more than a million migrants were smuggled to Greece and Italy, and a similar number of asylum claims were lodged in Germany. Presenting an overview of available statistics, Philippe Fargues addresses three questions: Is this a migrant or a refugee crisis? What triggered the crisis? And last, how can the crisis be resolved?

The Mediterranean has become, in the twenty-first century, the world’s most lethal migratory route, with a 1.5% annual probability of death during the sea crossing between 2000 and 2015. The majority of the most recent migrants are refugees. Their proportion has risen from 33% to 76% among migrants smuggled into Italy and Greece over the last five years. The “refugee crisis” is taking place against a backdrop of a looming population crisis across Europe. Replacement migration might thus be one of the solutions to Europe’s demographic predicament....

Released on: 06/04/2016