In the first ten months of 2019, Slovenian police recorded 14,066 illegal entries into the country, 72% more than in the same period of 2018, the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior said on Saturday.

The most numerous illegal migrants were from Algeria (1,752), followed by migrants from Afghanistan (1,519), Bangladesh, Syria and Iran.

In the first ten months of this year, 553 migrants were returned to Slovenia, mostly from Italy and Austria, as were 25 from Croatia.

In the first ten months of this year, Slovenian police returned 9,653 illegal migrants to Croatia, which is a major increase compared to the 3,906 migrants returned to Croatia from Slovenia in the same period of 2018.

The number of migrants who have sought asylum in Slovenia has increased from 2,875 in 2018 to 3,350 in 2019.

In 2018 Slovenia granted international protection to 102 migrants, and this year it has granted international protection to 62 migrants.

Currently, there are 335 persons under international protection in Slovenian migrant centres.