471,000 non-EU citizens denied entry in 2018, 7% higher compared to 2017
Nearly half a million non-EU citizens were denied entry into the EU countries in 2018, according to a Eurostat statement on Friday.
The statement said 471,000 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU at one of its external borders last year.
This was 7% higher than the numbers in 2017, it added.
"Around 602,000 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in one of the EU Member States," the statement said.
It said the number of non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave an EU member state reached 478,000 persons.
"Some 198,000 non-EU citizens, following an order to leave, were returned to another country [including other EU Member States], of these 158,000 were returned outside the EU," it added.