Lampedusa has become a tragic symbol for a crisis and controversy that is discussed across the European Union. The Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea has become a prime transit point for immigrants from Africa and related to an ongoing tragedy in the waters between the European and African continent where people die on an almost daily basis while hoping for a better life in Europe. The debate has turned as far as the UK opposing future migrant rescues in Mediterranean. In a recent feature the Guardian newspaper published a range of statistics related to the topic, amongst them some figures that highlight the countries where refugees make it across the perilous waters into the EU from which I created the following cartogram that shows, which countries have to deal with which numbers of migrants arriving via the sea:

(click for larger version)

While only few EU member states have to deal with the problem, statements such as this of the UK’s foreign office to not support further rescue operations show that there is the need for an EU-wide search and rescue plan for preventing more people from dying in the Mediterranean but also a European-wide political solution for those who survive the voyage into Europe.

The Social Atlas of Europe
by Dimitris Ballas, Danny Dorling, Benjamin Hennig

Published by Policy Press
[Oder your copy here]

The content on this page has been created by Benjamin Hennig using data published in the Guardian newspaper. Please contact me for further details on the terms of use.