--- description: More refugees arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016 than during the first four months of last year title: Rate of Refugees Arriving in Europe Increased in 2016 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt010d447ad1c75030/69887d8abc6cfc9d063dbb93/syrian-refugees-greece.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [europe](/tag/europe/) ## europe Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rate of Refugees Arriving in Europe Increased in 2016  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 13, 2016 2:49 PM CUT  Syrian refugees are seen after they arrived to port of Piraeus by the passenger ships charted by Greek government in Athens, Greece on Jan. 31. Syrian refugees are seen after they arrived to port of Piraeus by the passenger ships charted by Greek government in Athens, Greece on Jan. 31.Anadolu Agency—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 13, 2016 2:49 PM CUT More refugees arrived in Europe by boat [during the first six weeks of 2016](http://www.unhcr.org/56bdf0f26.html "undefined") than during the first four months of last year, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Friday. There were more than 80,000 refugees and migrants who arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016, according to the agency. [More than one million refugees](http://time.com/4163932/europe-sea-migrant-crisis-refugees-arrivals-million/ "undefined") traveled to Europe in 2015, but not until July did they begin arriving at the rate of more than 2,000 people per day. “The majority of those arriving in January 2016, nearly 58 per cent, were women and children; one in three people arriving to Greece were children as compared to just 1 in 10 in September 2015,” UNHCR’s spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told reporters. The news comes as many European countries struggle to handle the influx of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, with some countries imposing more restrictive immigration policies, causing activists to call for a comprehensive European response. “Other countries are contemplating similar or even more restrictive legislation at a time when European countries need to improve the legal and secure ways to access family reunion and thus combat smuggling,” Fleming said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/"},"headline":"Rate of Refugees Arriving in Europe Increased in 2016","datePublished":"2016-02-13T14:49:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:03:28.138Z","description":"More than 80,000 arrived in Europe by boat during the first six weeks of 2016","url":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/","keywords":["europe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt010d447ad1c75030/69887d8abc6cfc9d063dbb93/syrian-refugees-greece.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt010d447ad1c75030/69887d8abc6cfc9d063dbb93/syrian-refugees-greece.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Syrian refugees arrive port of Piraeus","caption":"Syrian refugees arrive port of Piraeus","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/europe/","name":"europe"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/","name":"Rate of Refugees Arriving in Europe Increased in 2016"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Video Shows Turkish Coast Guards Rescuing A Migrant","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eerfCg2B/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-02-10T15:53:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eerfCg2B.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/","duration":"PT2M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4220455/migrant-crisis-refugees-arrival-europe-2016/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```