Sea Arrivals in Italy by self

This visualization depicts the waves of sea arrivals to Italy from 2016 to 2022, by demographic category. The data is from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The "waves" of each demographic category are shown by different colors of hand-torn papers, and aim to highlight scale changes over the years rather than exact numbers. The height of each segment shows the scaled number of that demographic for the corresponding year – stacked together vertically, they add up to the annual totals.

Sea arrivals to Italy have been rising since 2019, although the numbers are below the 2016 peak. The demographic composition is broadly consistent over the years, with the majority of arrivals being adult men (73 percent in 2022). The second largest category is unaccompanied and separated children (13 percent of total sea arrivals in 2022), who are particularly vulnerable as they face risks of abuse and exploitation at every step of the journey.

The paper boat in the visualization represents the fragility of refugees and migrants, and the enormous risks they undertake by embarking on this dangerous crossing. They often make the journey in overcrowded boats that are not seaworthy and unfit for poor weather conditions, such as inflatable dinghies or wooden fishing boats. Reflecting the perils of the Central Mediterranean route (known as the world’s deadliest migration route), the numbers of the dead and missing are represented by the white "sea foam". The true number is likely much higher, as many deaths and disappearances go unrecorded.