Record number of migrants reach Italian shores this year

The number of migrants who have reached the Italian coast so far this year has increased by almost two thousand, according to information from Italy’s Interior Ministry.

Italy has borne the brunt of migrants arrivals since a March agreement between the European Union and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants heading for Greece was implemented.

As at November 28, 171, 299 migrants had reached Italy’s shores compared to the 170,000 recorded in 2014 and 154,000 recorded in 2015 bringing the three-year tally of arrivals to almost half a million.

More than 176 thousand asylum seekers now live in Italian shelters.

Most of the migrants who have come to Italy this year are from different countries in Africa, with an estimated 36,000 of them said to be from Nigeria alone. There are also an estimated 20,000 Eritreans and more than 12,000 Guineans

Some 4,663 migrants have however died in the Mediterranean this year.

As at the end of October, almost 23,000 unaccompanied minors — mostly teenage boys — had arrived, compared with 13,000 during the whole of 2014.