(AP) The number of attempts by migrants to enter the European Union without authorization dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2020, the EU border and coast guard agency Frontex said Friday.
Frontex said it detected around 124,000 “illegal border crossings” last year, a drop of 13% over 2019. It said this was the lowest number since 2013 and was mostly due to restrictions put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The agency’s figures concern crossing attempts rather than the number of people, because the same person may try to enter several times and in different places.
The entry into Europe of well over 1 million people in 2015, most fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq, sparked one of the EU’s biggest political crises.
