The goal of this article is to give an objective overview, updated daily, of the arrivals of people on the move in Italy by sea, and related returns.

Italy (together with Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria) is one of the countries defined as a first arrival on the migration routes to Europe.
In particular, together with Malta, it is the first arrival country on the Central Mediterranean route, one of the routes with the highest flow and the highest number of deaths and missing people.

Let’s look, for example, at the data for 2025. In 2025, 158003 people arrived in Europe via the four main migration routes (central Mediterranean, eastern Mediterranean, western Mediterranean and western African Atlantic): 66562 via the central Mediterranean route. Of these people, 66316 disembarked in Italy, 40% of all arrivals.
In 2025, 3358 people died or went missing on the same migration routes: 1330 on the central Mediterranean route, about 40%. This means that 4 out of 10 people died or went missing while attempting to reach Europe by disembarking in Italy.
(For more information: People dead and missing crossing Europe since January 2014 to date and People dead and missing along migration routes to Europe since January 2014 to date)

The following chart illustrates the monthly trend in total arrivals and unaccompanied minors (MSNA acronym in Italian), while the table below shows the annual data and the percentage of MSNAs compared to arrivals.

Returns are the procedure through which a person with no right to remain in Italy is sent back to their country of origin. There are two main types: forced return, ordered by the authorities when a person does not leave voluntarily, and assisted voluntary return (AVR), a return pathway supported by logistical and financial assistance programmes. Since 12 June 2026, the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum has been in force across the bloc, aiming to make return procedures faster and more effective.

The Italian legal framework on returns

The legal framework is set out in the Consolidated Immigration Act (Legislative Decree 286/1998).

Forced return: governed by Articles 13-14 of the Act, it is carried out through a deportation order. If it cannot be enforced immediately, the person may be held in a Repatriation Detention Centre (CPR), for a maximum period set by law, pending identification and the organisation of the return.

Assisted voluntary return (AVR): governed by Article 14-ter of the Act, it allows a person to voluntarily join a return programme that includes financial, logistical and reintegration support in the country of origin. In Italy, AVR programmes are mainly funded through the AMIF Fund (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund) and implemented with the support of the IOM (International Organization for Migration).

At EU level, the framework was updated by the Pact on Migration and Asylum, in force since 12 June 2026 (notably Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 on asylum procedures and Regulation (EU) 2024/1349 on the border return procedure), and by the new EU Return Regulation, approved by the European Parliament on 17 June 2026. In Italy, domestic legislation was aligned through Decree-Law 100/2026.

The charts below show the trend of returns from Italy, broken down by the two categories.