It is estimated that at least 225,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea since the beginning of 2015. Around 124,000 landed in Greece until the end of July – a 750% increase on the same period in 2014. In July alone, there were 50,000 arrivals, about 70% of these from Syria.

This summer, an average of 1,000 refugees arrived every day on the Greek islands from Turkey, the country with the highest number of refugees worldwide, hosting a total of 1.59 million. Meanwhile, one million of these refugees were newly registered in 2014, coming mostly from Syria. And Lebanon also houses 1.2 million Syrians fleeing the civil war.

At the end of 2014, Europe hosted 3.1 million refugees or 22% of worldwide refugees, while Africa and the Middle East hosted 46% of refugees worldwide, a staggering 6.65 million.

Migrants and refugees crossing the Mediterranean sea for Italy and Greece seek safety and peace on the shores of Europe but at least 2,000 people have died in 2015 alone, with most of those deaths happening on the route from Libya to Italy.

Since June, 10 people have died trying to cross the Channel to get to the UK from Calais, where around 3,000 migrants and refugees are stranded at the border.

From 2000 to 2014, the European Union spent over €13bn (£9bn, $14bn) to keep migrants out of Europe, €11.3bn alone spent on the deportation of migrants whose asylum claims were refused.

The most asylum claims from January to April 2015 were made in Germany, with 97,640 applications, followed by Hungary with 39,295. Italy had 19,745 asylum claims while France had 19,945 in the time. Only 9,330 asylum claims were made in the UK in the first four months of 2015.

Looking at net migration rate per 1,000 inhabitants, the UK also ranks comparably low with only 2.5 refugees, while Sweden has 5.4 refugees and Norway 7.2 refugees. Lebanon tops the list, hosting a full 232 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants.

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