Asylum seekers into southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain) over the last decade: a first comparative approach

Abstract

During the last decade, the European Union has been facing one of the largest mass movements of migrant inflows in its history. It is expected that this situation will not change over the next years as a result not only of the development of armed conflicts, but also due to the demographic explosion and the extreme poverty in many African countries. Among the European countries (i.e EU members and EFTA countries), Greece, Italy and Spain, due to their geographical position and the length of their coastline, play a major role as main entry points into Europe.