Overview
Between 1 January and 28 February 2018, 5,247 persons arrived in Italy by sea. This is a 61% decrease compared to sea arrivals in the same period last year (13,439). Monthly sea arrivals in February 2018 stood at 1,058. This was the lowest number of monthly arrivals on Italian shores since late 2013.
Nationality of arrivals
Between 1 January and 28 February 2018, 25% of all arrivals originated from Eritrea, followed by Tunisia (20%), Nigeria (6%), Pakistan (5%), Libya (4%), Côte d'Ivoire (4%), Guinea (3%), Senegal (3%), Algeria (3%), and Mali (3%). Despite a significant decrease in overall sea arrivals, the numbers of Eritreans and Tunisians reaching Italian shores since the beginning of 2018 (1,312 and 1,060, respectively) are much higher than those registered at landing points in the same period last year (47 and 82, respectively). Similarly, the numbers of Libyans arriving by sea in the first two months of 2018 (234) is almost five times higher than in the same period last year (49). Between 1 January and 28 February 2018, there was a significant decrease in the arrivals of persons originating from Bangladesh and from western and sub-Saharan African countries, with numbers dropping by over 80% in relation to Nigerian, Ivoirian, Guinean and Senegalese nationals registered at disembarkation sites in southern Italy.