In 2019, 717 600 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU. Around 627 900 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in one of the EU Member States. The number of non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave an EU Member State reached 491 200 persons. Some 164 600 non-EU citizens, following an order to leave, were returned to another country (including other EU Member States), of these 142 300 were returned outside the EU.
Source datasets: migr_eirfs, migr_eipre, migr_eiord, migr_eirtn
58% more non-EU citizens refused entry into the EU in 2019 than in 2018
In 2019, some 717 600 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU at one of its external borders, up 58% compared with 454 600 in the previous year.
A large majority of the refusals of entry were recorded in Spain (493 500), followed by Poland (65 400) and France (56 600): together these three EU Member States accounted for 86% of all non-EU citizens refused entry into the EU in 2019.
The highest number of non-EU citizens refused entry into the EU in 2019 were Moroccans (489 900), followed by citizens of Ukraine (66 500) and Albania (22 800).
10% more non-EU citizens found to be illegally present in the EU in 2019 than in 2018
In 2019, 627 900 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in the EU. This was up 10% compared with 2018, but down 70% when compared with the levels of 2015 when the total number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present stood at 2 085 500 - the highest number ever recorded.
Germany reported the largest number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present in 2019 (133 500), followed by Greece (123 000), France (120 500) and Spain (62 900). These four Member States together accounted for 70% of all those found to be illegally present in the EU.
Afghan citizens accounted for the highest number of persons illegally present in the EU in 2019 (56 200). The next highest numbers were recorded for citizens of Morocco (41 500), Ukraine (41 300) and Syria (40 200).
8% more non-EU citizens ordered to leave the EU Member State territory in the EU in 2019 than in 2018
In 2019, some 491 200 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave the territory of the EU Member State, up 8% compared with the previous year (456 700).
Among EU Member States, France reported the largest number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave its territory in 2019 (123 800), followed by Greece (78 900), Germany (47 500) and Spain (37 900).
In 2019, the highest numbers of persons ordered to leave the EU Member State territory were observed for Ukrainians (37 100), Moroccans (34 800) and Albanians (30 900).
2.5% fewer non-EU citizens were returned outside the EU in 2019 than in 2018
In 2019, 142 300 non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave the territory of an EU Member State were returned outside of the EU; a reduction of 2.5% when compared with a year before (145 900).
Poland reported the largest number of non-EU citizens returned outside the EU (25 900), followed by Germany (25 100), France (15 600), Spain (11 500) and the Netherlands (11 100): together these Member States accounted for almost two thirds (63%) of all non-EU citizens returned outside the EU in 2019.
Ukrainians (27 200) topped the list of non-EU citizens returned to a non-EU country, followed by Albanians (15 400), Moroccans (10 200) and Georgians (8 600).
Further information on irregular migration to the EU can be found in this Statistics Explained article.
Note: The European Union (EU) includes 27 EU Member States. The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Further information is published here.
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