Over 1 Million migrants enter Europe in 2015

The number of migrants and refugees crossing into Europe by land and sea this year has passed one million, this is according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The number represents a fourfold rise on the total last year.

The vast majority crossed by sea, with more than 800,000 travelling from Turkey to Greece. Most are refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The IOM says 3,695 migrants have drowned this year or remain missing.

The huge influx of migrants has caused significant political rifts within the EU.

The symbolic milestone was passed on Monday, the IOM said, with the total for land and sea reaching more than 1,006,000.

The figure covers entries via six European Union nations – Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Malta and Cyprus.

Half of the refugees crossing the Mediterranean were from Syria, 20% were from Afghanistan and 7% from Iraq, the IOM says.

Most of the migrants who died – 2,889 – were making the sea crossing between north Africa and Italy, while more than 700 died in the Aegean crossing to Greece from Turkey.

Only 3.5% of migrants made a land journey to Greece or Bulgaria via Turkey.

The IOM gathers its statistics from registrations, law enforcement agencies and its own monitors.

But IOM director general William Lacy Swing said it was not enough to just count the figures.

“We must also act. Migration must be legal, safe and secure for all – both for the migrants themselves and the countries that will become their new home,” he said.

The migrant crisis has led some European states to put up fences and introduce border controls despite the EU’s border-free Schengen area.