Migration in West and North Africa and across the Mediterranean - Chapter 4

This chapter provides a descriptive analysis of migrant and refugee arrival trends in Italy and Spain from January 2018 to June 2019. The chapter explores major monthly trends in arrivals in 2018 and the first half of 2019, and indications of potential rerouting between the Central Mediterranean Route and Western Mediterranean Route for certain nationalities. The key findings are: 

(a) From 2018 to the first half of 2019, the Western Mediterranean Route was more active than the CMR, with a higher number of arrivals to Spain than to Italy in most months; 
(b) Simultaneously with a significant decrease in arrivals in both Italy and Spain in the observation period, possible rerouting from the CMR to the Western Mediterranean Route was observed among certain nationalities over time, such as among Guinean and Malian migrants and refugees; 
(c) From the start of 2017 to August 2019, over 90 per cent of migration flows in West and Central Africa were intraregional or within the same country