One million migrants have entered Italy since 2013

Rome: Over a million migrants have reached Italy since 2013, while more than 28,000 have died or gone missing during migration journeys to the country since 2014.

Over one million migrants have reached Italy between the start of 2013 and September 28, 2023.

The figure was obtained by comparing data provided by the Italian interior ministry since 2013, the year of a dramatic shipwreck a few miles off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa that proved fatal for 368 migrants that departed from Libya.

Only 155 passengers survived, including six women and two children.

The tragedy, which occurred at night a few miles from the coast of the Isola dei Conigli on Lampedusa, did not deter those hoping for a better life from undertaking the journey, with migration flows continuing over the years.

And while many have made it to Italy, thousands have died at sea: more than 28,000 migrants have been reported dead or missing from 2014 until today in the Mediterranean, according to data provided by the NGO Save the Children. These victims include 1,143 minors.

So far in 2023, more than 100 minors have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean — 4% of the total lives lost at sea this year.

Save the Children said that between 2014 and today, over 112,000 unaccompanied minors have reached Italy by sea. Since January 1 this year, more than 11,600 minors crossed the Mediterranean and reached the country on their own.

2016 marked the highest number of arrivals to Italy, with over 181,000 migrants reaching the country.

The three-year period with the lowest number of arrivals occurred between 2018 and 2020. In 2018, around 23,000 people arrived, while some 11,400 arrived in 2019.

In 2020, the year of the first Covid-19 emergency, arrivals jumped to 34,000 and have continued to rise until today.

In general, the waves of landings and arrivals have almost always been connected to wars and economic and political crises.