Over 180,000 migrants prevented from entering Bulgaria illegally in 2023

Record migrant pressure was reported last year by the Border Police. And at the same time they report a sharp increase in migrants who were not allowed to cross our border illegally.

In 2023, those not allowed to cross the green border between Bulgaria and Turkey are over 180,000, compared to only 42,000 in 2021.

The pressure on the country’s south-eastern border has been seriously increasing over the last two years, with a jump of more than three times compared to 2021.

The number of irregular migrants apprehended in the interior and prevented from continuing their journey to the countries of Central and Western Europe is also increasing significantly.

"For 2022, the Austrian authorities had found on their territory about 123,000 migrants who had arrived, it is not said from where, but had arrived without registration. Naturally, the instructions to us were to tighten the measures at our borders to see the number of migrants who have reached Austria. It was thought that we should reduce them by about 20%. As a result of these measures, the migrants who have reached there are, according to their data, about 74,000 people," said the director Anton Zlatanov.