Detection of irregular crossings

After a relative decrease in the last few years in the number of migrants trying to cross the EU’s external borders irregularly, these numbers have started to rise again. In 2022, Frontex recorded 330 000 irregular crossings of the EU’s external borders – the highest recorded number since 2016 (see Figure 1). Almost half of detections were recorded on the Western Balkan route (145 000). Other significant irregular crossings were detected along the Central Mediterranean route (102 000) and the Eastern Mediterranean route (43 000). The top nationalities of people apprehended at the EU borders in 2022 were Syrians, Afghans and Tunisians.