Italy: More than 120,000 migrants passed through Lampedusa since 2023

From June 1, 2023 until today, the first reception center on the island of Lampedusa, in the Mediterranean has hosted a total of 126,000 migrants, says the Italian Red Cross, who manage the center.
Between June 1, 2023 and mid-January 2025, the reception center, or hotspot on the Italian island of Lampedusa, in the Mediterranean has welcomed a total of 126,000 migrants, states the Red Cross in figures released at the end of last week.

“The year 2024 that just ended brought a total of 45,997 migrants to Lampedusa on 1,095 different boats. Most of the arrivals were adult men (74.3 percent), followed by minors (19.4 percent) and women (6.3 percent)”.

The second half of 2023 was particularly busy. From June 1, 2023 –the date when the Italian Red Cross started managing the hotspot– to 31 December 2023 the number of boat arrivals on the island numbered 1,915 and a total of 80,609 people were hosted at the ‘hotspot’ situated in Contrada Imbriacola.

The center has often become the focus of reports of overcrowding and is designed to offer initial help before migrants are moved to other reception facilities on mainland Sicily or the Italian mainland.

“The 126 thousand people found assistance and support here, in Lampedusa,” stated the President of the Italian Red Cross, Rosario Valastro. “The global crises that push women, men, boys, and girls to look for a better future in our country, are continuous. Some crises, like that currently in the Middle East, are growing day by day. We are very concerned for the difficulties and hate that move thousands of people daily, pushing them to abandon their country of origin.”

According to Red Cross data, Bangladeshi nationals accounted for the majority of arrivals in that time, representing 21 percent of the total. Syrians accounted for 20 percent, Tunisians for 11 percent and people from Guinea and Egypt, 8 percent and 7 percent respectively.

“For many of them,” continued Valastro, “the sea made their journeys even more difficult. Too many lives were lost at sea, too many goodbyes caused by the waves that separated mothers, fathers, children, and friends.” During his speech, Valastro recalled that Red Cross teams had tried to offer respect, dignity and help to those arriving, but had also seen many people filled with fear, shaking and defensive after the difficulties faced on their journeys.