On 21 August, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that from 1 January 2025 until 16 August 2025, 14,554 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and returned to Libya. This figure includes 12,617 men, 1,324 women, 468 children, and 145 migrants without available gender data. In the same timeframe, 400 deaths and 318 missing were recorded along the Central Mediterranean route. [O-A3] All figures represent a pro-rata increase on previous years. In the whole of 2024, 21,762 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya, while in 2023 the figure was 17,190.
In the week 10-16 August, 491 migrants were stopped at sea by the Libya Coast Guard and brought back to Libya. As of 25 August, according to figures from the Italian Ministry of Interior, 40,510 illegal migrants arrived in Italy so far in 2025, the vast majority of them via Libya. In the same period last year, the number of arrivals was meaningfully less at 29,507. In Greece, so far, more than 7,300 migrants departing from Libya have landed at the southern islands of Crete and Gavdos since the beginning of 2025, which is significantly more than during the whole last year. Figures have however dropped significantly after Greece suspended asylum applications early July. During the first 20 days of August only 400 migrants arrived.