TORONTO – More than 218,000 refugees and migrants made the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in October, the largest monthly total this year, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
According to statistics released by the U.N., 744,175 people have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, and 218,394 of those made the trip in October. Comparatively, a total 216,054 people arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean in 2014.
The statistics show that over 600,000 people entered the European Union through Greece while 140,000 crossed through Italy and almost 3,000 through Spain.
READ MORE: What Canada could actually do to alleviate the refugee crisis
The majority, 53 per cent, of sea arrivals came from war-torn Syria while 18 per cent game from Afghanistan. Six per cent from Iraq. Of those who made the journey, 65 per cent were men, 20 per cent were children and 14 per cent women.
Furthermore, 3,440 died or went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea this year, 60 fewer people than 2014.
READ MORE: Is Trudeau’s plan to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by January realistic?
The release of the statistics comes just days after an overloaded wooden boat sank of the coast of the Greek island Lesbos with more than 300 refugees on board. Greek authorities said the bodies of 20 children, 17 men and six women have been recovered.
Meanwhile, as of Nov. 2 there are more than 4,181,000 Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR — almost double the number at this time in 2013:
That’s 50 per cent more people than the city of Toronto, about equal to the populations of Alberta and British Columbia and more than the populations of Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined:
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