European migrant crisis
The European migrant crisis[n 2] or European refugee crisis[n 3] began in 2015,[10] when a rising number of refugees and migrants[11] made the journey to the European Union (EU) to seek asylum, traveling across the Mediterranean Sea or through Southeast Europe. They came from areas such as Western and South Asia, Africa,[12][13] and the Western Balkans.[14] According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the top three nationalities of the over one million Mediterranean Sea arrivals between January 2015 and March 2016 were Syrian (46.7%), Afghan (20.9%) and Iraqi (9.4%).[15] Of the refugees and migrants arriving in Europe by sea in 2015, 58% were men, 17% women and 25% children.[16] The number of deaths at sea rose to record levels in April 2015, when five boats carrying almost 2,000 migrants to Europe sank in the Mediterranean Sea, with a combined death toll estimated at more than 1,200 people.