Over 29,000 refugee and migrant children arrived in Europe in 2017, according to a report released jointly by UNHCR, UNICEF and IOM in February 2018. The majority of 58 percent (14,800 in total) of those who arrived between January and September were unaccompanied or separated children, commonly referred to as Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC).

Between January and September last year, 7,257 children reached Greek islands and 11 percent or 838 of them were UASC. Some 552 children arrived in Bulgaria during the same period out of whom 154 or 28 percent were unaccompanied or separated. Meanwhile, in Spain, a total of 2,430 children arrived via sea and land routes, but figures on how many of them were UASC were not available from the Spanish Ministry of Interior.

Highest proportion of unaccompanied minors in Italy

Officials in Italy recorded the highest proportion of unaccompanied or separated children. Out of the 15,140 children to arrived there between January and September 2017, almost 92 percent, amounting to 13,867, were UASC.

The majority of UASC to Italy came from African states. Guinea was the most prominent country of origin with 1,795 or 12 percent of the total. The next biggest group of UASC to have reached Europe was from Ivory Coast, approximately 1,474 or 10 percent, followed by Gambia and Bangladesh with 1,376 and 1,302 arrivals respectively. Amongst the unaccompanied or separated children to have reached Italy, Nigerians, Senegalese, Eritreans and Somalians were also notable.

Children traveling with family

The vast majority of accompanied children who were traveling wither with family or other adults and arrived in Italy, Spain, Bulgaria or Greece during 2017 were from Syria.

According to UNHCR, some 4,627 or 41 percent of the total number of accompanied children came from Syria. Children from Iraq made the second biggest group with a 15 percent share, translating into 1,700 children. The third biggest group of accompanied children reaching Europe was of Afghans. 1,038 Afghan children made up nine percent of the total of accompanied childrens‘ arrivals.

Gender and age breakdown of all children by country of arrival

In all counties of arrival, the proportion of boys in comparison to girls remained higher in 2017. On average, there were seven boys for every three girls.

In Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, the majority UASC were boys between 15 and 17 years old.

Among the 6,837 children who reached Greece and Bulgaria with family or other adults, 34 percent were between the ages of 0 and 4 years, 47 percent were between 5 and 14 years and 20 percent were between 15 and 17 years. The age breakdown for accompanied children in Italy is not available, but their proportion is very low, only 8 percent who arrived through the Central Mediterranean Route.

Childrens‘ asylum applications decline in Western Europe

EU member states received 161,087 asylum applications of children from January to September 2017. Germany continues to be the top destination for refugee and migrant children, registering over 40 percent (67,441) of all child asylum applications in 2017. Meanwhile, asylum applications by children in Italy stood at 16,077, Greece 14,465, France 14,085, Austria 9,310, Sweden 6,564, Spain 5,440, United Kingdom 5,435 and Switzerland 5,050.

The number of children applying for asylum in the top receiving destination countries (Germany, Austria, UK and Switzerland) declined in comparison to the same period in 2016.

However, the number of asylum seeking children in Spain, Italy, France and Greece increased. For example, the number of children seeking asylum in Spain during the third quarter of 2017 rose almost four times compared to the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, Italy, France and Greece also marked 60, 12 and 5 percent increases respectively.

From those who applied for asylum, 60 percent are children between 0 and 5 years of age while 11 percent (7,514) are UASC. Nationalities of children who applied for asylum during 2017 remained almost consistent with previous years. Over half of them came from just four countries: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea.

Challenges ahead

Some 164,000 refugees and migrants, including 29,000 children entered Europe in 2017. They joined the 1.4 million people, including 360,000 children, who arrived in 2015 and the 3.6. million who arrived in 2016.

As the refugee crisis in Europe evolves and engulfs one country after another, new refugees’ arrivals and the various administrative, political and humanitarian challenges of dealing with them also linger on. One of the most complicated scenarios in this respect is how to deal with unaccompanied refugee and migrant children who have arrived in the European Union since 2015.