A UN report showed that the number of (illegal) migrants who died or went missing while trying to cross the Mediterranean decreased by more than a quarter in 2018 compared to the previous year, reaching 2,262 migrants. A report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees stated that the number of migrants who arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean during the past year decreased to 113,482 after reaching 172,301 in 2017. The data showed that Spain has become the main gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees arriving from North Africa, as 55,756 people recorded their arrival in Spain from the northern African shores by the year 2018. As for Italy, in the context of the strict anti-immigration policies taken by its government, where the number of arrivals decreased significantly last year, it reached the country 23,371, or about a fifth of the number that arrived in 2017 when 119,369 crossed from the shores of Libya. All the numbers mentioned above are a far cry from the peak numbers recorded in 2015, when an estimated one million people crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, most of them from Turkey to the Greek islands. The repercussions of this massive influx of migrants are still casting their shadows across the continent, which witnessed controversy over immigration policies and gave impetus to far-right parties in countries that welcomed large numbers of refugees, such as Italy, Germany, and Sweden. The largest group of migrants arriving in Europe in 2018 came from the West African country of Guinea (13,068), followed by Morocco (12,745) and Mali (10,327). Syrians were the fourth largest group (9,839), followed by Iraqis (7,333) and Afghans (6,721). Read also on Euronews: Spain: the new immigrant destination Dozens of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean and sharks devour the bodies Video from inside a boat of migrants... This is what they face at sea