By now you know: the world is finally paying attention to the massive human tragedy that is the refugee crisis out of the Middle East, spurred to action by many painful moments along the way.
First, we saw Aylan Kurdi, whose tiny, lifeless body on the beach shocked the world and sparked real conversation about what the next steps should be. Then this week, we saw Hungarian camerawoman Petra Laszlo kicking and tripping refugees as they fled from authorities. That shocked us too — Laszlo was promptly fired, but not before the global condemnation on social media took hold.
But what do the numbers actually show? According to the UNHCR, this year has meant more asylum seekers in Europe but less boat deaths than 2014.
An infographic released by the UN refugee agency this week shows almost 350,000 refugee and migrant crossed the Mediterranean from the beginning of 2015 to August 31. Meanwhile, almost 3,000 are dead of missing.
But there is some good news. According to the report, that death count is down from 2014, when 3,500 dead or missing and 219,000 arrivals were reported.
Of course, we're only in September, so 2015 still has a lot of time to catch up.
Still, with all the peril undfolding on European shores, the lower death rate is a welcome reprise in the news.
See the infographic below, via Twitter.
#Refugees #migrants crossing Mediterranean to EU Arrival trends as of 31Aug15 by @Refugees http://t.co/oAUaSJue5p pic.twitter.com/WoFB104cT4
— Brendan McDonald (@7piliers) September 9, 2015
