Migrants arriving from the Middle East crossed 6 km of water to the Greek islands of Chios, Kos, Lesbos, Leros, Kastellorizo, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Rhodes, Samos, Symi and other islands close to Turkey, which acts as a fast and accessible border with Europe. [453] [454] [455] [456] Some arrived from Turkey through the Evros terminal. In June 2015, 124,000 migrants had arrived in Greece, 750% more than in 2014, mainly from refugees from the wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Greece asked for help from the European Union, while UNCHR`s Europe Director Vincent Cochetel said migrant facilities in the Greek islands were “totally inadequate” and the islands were in “total chaos.” [457] On 20 March 2016, an agreement was reached between the European Union and Turkey to prevent migrants from travelling dangerously from Turkey to Greece. In his words, migrants arriving in Greece would be sent back to Turkey if they did not apply for asylum or if their application was rejected, while the EU would send some 2,300 experts, including security and migration officers and translators, to Greece to help implement the agreement. [165] IOM data published for the third quarter of 2017 recorded a total of 146,287 arrivals in Europe, of which 137,771 were per sea, less than half of the total at the end of September 2016. The largest decrease in the influx was observed on the eastern Mediterranean route. Despite an 86% drop in the number of migrants and refugees in September 2017 compared to September 2016, Greece recorded a steady increase in the number of migrants from September 2016. In 2017, while Italy also saw a decrease in the number of migrants arriving, the number of migrants arriving in Spain increased considerably, with more than 16,000 arrivals in the country. In 2017, facilitating access by road to the Western Mediterranean had increased the number of migrants from Africa, with Spain preferred as a landing point. [642] In November 2017, Swedish employment statistics showed that of the 24,034 migrants recently arrived in Stockholm, 9,324 were women, 3% of whom had found unsubsidized employment and 14,710 men, 7 per cent of whom had found unsubsidized employment. [601] Among migrants who arrived in Europe by sea in 2015, 58% were men over the age of 18 (77% of adults), 17% were women over the age of 18 (22% of adults) and the remaining 25% were under the age of 18.
[20] [Clarification needed] The death toll at sea reached a record high in April 2015, when five boats carrying about 2,000 migrants to Europe fell in the Mediterranean, with the total death toll estimated at more than 1,200. [21] Shipwrecks occurred during conflicts and refugee crises in several countries in the Middle East and Africa, bringing the total number of displaced people worldwide to nearly 60 million at the end of 2014, the highest level since World War II. [22] [23] In September 2015, Europol estimated that there were 30,000 suspected smugglers, which rose to 55,000 in 2016 and 65,000 in 2017.