Migrant Arrivals Into Europe Top One Million

More than 1 million migrants and refugees have crossed into Europe this year, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.

Migrants are escorted through fields by police, from the village of Rigonce to the Brezice refugee camp, in Rigonce, Slovenia, on Oct. 23, 2015. Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

GENEVA—More than 1 million people driven out of their countries by war, poverty, and persecution entered Europe in this record-breaking year, migration experts said Tuesday, Dec. 22, a symbolic milestone capping a mass movement of people that has challenged the concept of European unity.

With just days left in 2015, the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said 1,005,504 people had entered Europe as of Monday, more than four times as many as last year. Almost all came by sea, while 3,692 others drowned trying to make the crossing.

Migration must be legal, safe, and secure for all—both for the migrants themselves and the countries that will become their new home.

— William Lacy Swing, director-general, IOM