More than 180,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Italy in 2016

The number of illegal immigrants who arrived in Italy this year has increased by 18.21 per cent compared to last year to reach 180,392 people, the Italian Interior Ministry said in a report yesterday.

This is the largest number of immigrants received by Italy.

According to the report, 7,018 people have arrived in Italy every month, compared with 3,219 people in the same period of 2015.

The numbers include 24,929 unaccompanied minors arrived in the country since the start of 2016.

The report said a majority of the immigrants arrived through the ports of Augusta, Pozzallo, Catania, Messina, Reggio Calabria, Palermo, Trapani, all in the south of the country.

Most of those arriving were from African countries including: Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Sudan, Bangladesh and Somalia.

The report pointed out that 2,600 Italian municipalities of the country’s 8,000 host approximately 200,000 illegal immigrants, while the ministry aims to increase the number of reception centres and increase the number of municipalities which host the migrants.

The Ministry of Interior said that Italy has become the first destination for migration routes.

According to the Italian Coast Guard data, 3,800 people have died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea since the beginning of 2016.