- 19 minutes ago
- From the section Europe
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The number of migrants crossing into Europe by land and sea this year has passed one million, the International Organization for Migration says.
The number represents a fourfold rise on the total last year.The vast majority crossed by sea, with more than 800,000 travelling from Turkey to Greece. Most are refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The IOM says that 3,695 migrants are known to have drowned this year or remain missing.
The symbolic milestone was passed on Monday, the IOM said, with the total for land and sea reaching 1,005,504.
The figure covers entries via six European Union nations - Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Malta and Cyprus.
Some 455,000 of the refugees were from Syria, with more than 186,000 from Afghanistan.
Faced with the huge influx of migrants, some EU states have put up fences and introduced border controls despite the EU's border-free Schengen area.
The EU last week agreed to increase the numbers of Frontex border agency staff in Greece, a key arrival point.
Once they arrive in Greece, many migrants then try to travel north via the Balkan states, but Macedonia is now refusing to allow anyone through its Greek border who does not come from a war zone.
A UN report last week warned that the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide would "far surpass" 60 million this year.
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