How many of the people trying to come to Europe in small boats are refugees fleeing persecution, conflict or indiscriminate violence?
It is very difficult to know the exact percentage of those in need of international protection. Official statistics in most countries, for example, do not include information on how an asylum applicant arrived – whether by sea, land or air. The number of boat people in need of international protection varies widely from country to country (and even within the same country) and at different times of the year. In Malta, roughly 70 percent of those arriving by sea apply for asylum and just under half of them, on average, are recognized to be in need of international protection. They receive either refugee status or another form of protection. In the case of Italy, one third of those arriving on Lampedusa Island last year applied for asylum (some 6,000 people). This amounted to roughly 60 percent of all asylum applications in Italy. On average, almost half of all asylum applicants in Italy are recognized as refugees or granted protection status. Although only a small proportion of the almo
