Most children migrating to Europe in 2025 were alone, UN says

Out of the 31,100 migrant children who arrived in Europe last year, more than 20,000 were unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, the United Nations said Wednesday. The percentage of migrant children traveling solo was 16 points higher than in 2024. Most were boys. The UN urged European destination countries and countries along migrant routes to cooperate on initiatives to protect children and dismantle smuggling and criminal networks that prey on them.

However, the UN also found that overall child arrivals to migration hotspots including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Spain dropped 25% last year compared with 2024.

The UN also said that about half of migrant teenagers and young adults up to age 24 who were interviewed said they experienced physical violence on their journeys. Many also said they were held against their will and forced to work. Such experiences were especially common among those who traveled through Libya.

Did the UN say where the children were coming from? The main countries from which solo child migrants traveled were Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report on the U.S. government’s continued focus on receiving almost exclusively Afrikaner refugees.