STA, 15 January 2020 - Slovenian police handled 14,592 attempts by migrants to cross illegally into the country last year, which compares to 16,252 the year before, a decline of roughly 10%. Two-thirds of the migrants were from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Morocco.
In releasing the statistics for 2020, the police noted the slowdown in migration was due to coronavirus restrictions and weather conditions. A new surge is expected once it gets warmer in spring.
Most of the migrants intercepted last year were nationals of Pakistan (3,519), Afghanistan (3,038) and Morocco (2,414), as the number of Algerian migrants was reduced to less than a third of the figure recorded the year before (627 from 1,910).
The police also noted a fall in the number of migrants who express the intention to apply for asylum in Slovenia but then, after being accommodated in asylum centres, often continue on their journey to what are the destination countries of their choice.
Slovenia returned 10,025 illegal migrants to foreign law enforcement authorities last year, most of them (9,950) to Croatia, which compares to 11,164 in 2019.
Foreign authorities returned 1,440 migrants to Slovenia, which compares to just 643 the year before, as Italian authorities returned 1,116 migrants, more than four times as many as the year before, and Austria returned 176, more than twice as many as in 2019.
There are at the moment 153 asylum applicants accommodated in Slovenia and 788 persons who have had international protection status recognised, of whom 163 are currently abroad.
A total of 3,548 applications were filed in 2020, including claims for renewed procedure, which compares to 3,821 applications in 2019, show data from the police, Interior Ministry and Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants.
