The latest Frontex data underline a rising trend on the central Mediterranean route
New statistics from the European border agency Frontex confirm what Brussels has been monitoring for months. The central Mediterranean route has become the main entry path for many migrants from North Africa into the European Union. In the first four months of the year, the number attempting to enter illegally via this route reached 42,165. This is four times higher than the same period last year and accounts for more than half of all arrivals to the EU during those months.
Frontex reported 80,700 irregular entries into the European Union from January to April, a 30 percent increase compared with the previous year. That level is the highest for the early months since the agency began collecting comparable data in 2016. On the central Mediterranean route, the figure means fourfold growth versus the same period in the prior year, marking the highest count since data gathering began in 2009. In April alone, 14,474 people used this corridor.
According to the agency, criminal networks involved in human trafficking increasingly rely on improvised metal boats. These vessels are assembled just hours before departure, often launched by fishing boats that transport the metal crafts toward Italy. While Frontex does not spell out every detail, the pattern suggests that a large share of new arrivals originate from Tunisia.
The rest of the routes are falling
In its assessment, Frontex, which operates with roughly 2,400 border-control personnel, notes that while arrivals via the central Mediterranean are rising, traffic through other routes is declining. In the Western Balkans corridor, which includes routes through countries like Serbia and Bosnia to Hungary and Croatia, 22,546 people entered during the first four months of the previous year, including 7,140 in April. That figure represents a 21 percent drop compared with the same period last year. The agency attributes the reduction to stronger border enforcement, particularly in Hungary.
Migrant movements through the East Mediterranean show a split pattern, with 47 percent entering via the Canary Islands and 15 percent through Ceuta, Melilla, and the Iberian Peninsula. For the Atlantic route, new figures show 3,422 entries (1,203 in April) via the Western Mediterranean, and 2,876 entries (830 in April) through another period of the same corridor. This year so far has seen Syrian nationals remain the most detected nationality across all routes, accounting for around 17 percent, though their share has declined in recent months in favor of nationals from sub-Saharan Africa.
For example, the number of Ivorians has grown eightfold, and arrests of Guinean citizens have risen fivefold. In contrast, arrests of Afghan nationals have fallen by about half. In the case of the Spain route, the main nationalities identified include Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Senegal for the Canary Islands, while Morocco, Algeria, and Guinea dominate the Western Mediterranean corridor.