According to the Frontex agency, irregular crossing of the external borders of the European Union have dropped by 20% over the first five months of 2025, with 63,700 passages identified. A contrasting trend according to migratory roads.
The European Union records a significant decrease in the arrivals of migrants in an irregular situation. Between January and May 2025, 63,700 unauthorized crossings were detected at the external borders of the EU, a drop of 20% compared to the same period in 2024, the European border surveillance agency, Frontex, in a statement, on Wednesday.
These figures mainly concern people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Mali. The agency, based in Warsaw, specifies, however, that this data is based on the number of detections and not unique people, some crossings being recorded several times when a migrant crosses the border in different places.
Strong decrease in the Balkans and in the eastern Mediterranean
The downward trend manifests itself significantly on several migratory routes. The Western Balkans recorded the most marked decline with 56%less passages, followed by the West African road (-35%) and the eastern Mediterranean (-30%). Arrivals from Belarus to Poland and Baltic countries also decreased by 7%, with 5,062 passages identified over the period.
Slight increase to Italy and high pressure on the sleeve
On the other hand, the central Mediterranean, which leads in particular to Italy, is a slight increase of 7% of irregular crossings. At the same time, attempts to cross the Channel to the United Kingdom continue to increase: 25,540 people tried the crossing between January and May, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year.
Frontex notes that the networks of smugglers adapt their methods, using in particular to simultaneous departures to multiply the chances of successful crossing.
A global drop after the peak of 2023
The agency recalls that in 2024, the irregular crossings of the external borders of the European Union decreased by 38%, to 239,000, after having reached a higher level in ten years in 2023.
This contrasting evolution testifies both to a hardening of the controls, but also the capacity to adapt migration networks, in a context always tense at the gates of Europe.
