EU’s external borders in 2022: Number of irregular border crossings highest since 2016
In 2022, around 330 000 irregular border crossings were detected at EU’s external border, according to preliminary calculations*. This is the highest number since 2016 and an increase of 64% from the previous year.
The Western Balkan route accounted for nearly half of the total. Syrians, Afghans and Tunisians together accounted for 47% of the detections in 2022. The number of Syrians roughly doubled to 94 000.
Women accounted for fewer than one in ten of the detections.
