UN report says 20,800 children reached Europe without a parent or guardian

Two-thirds of recorded child arrivals were unaccompanied or separated

A joint report from the International Organization for Migration, UNHCR and UNICEF counted about 31,100 children arriving in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain during 2025. About 20,800 of them—67 percent—were unaccompanied or separated from a parent or customary caregiver, up from 51 percent in 2024. The report describes arrivals recorded in those six countries, not every child who entered Europe or every child currently in a European asylum system. [1][2][3]

Total recorded child arrivals fell by about 25 percent from 2024, while the unaccompanied or separated share rose. Boys made up 78 percent of the children in that category and girls 22 percent. In Italy and Spain, 86 percent of recorded child arrivals were unaccompanied or separated. Spain's RTVE reported that national figure in Spanish and placed it within the same joint-agency dataset rather than presenting it as a separate count. [2][3][4]

Fewer arrivals did not mean safer journeys

The agencies interviewed more than 4,600 people ages 15 to 24 who traveled along the routes. Nearly half reported physical violence. On the Central Mediterranean route, 28 percent said they had been held against their will and 17 percent reported forced labor. Libya was the location most often identified in reports of abuse. These are survey responses from people reached by the agencies, not a prevalence estimate for every child on every route. [2][3][1]

About one in ten respondents on the Eastern Mediterranean route said false promises had influenced the journey. Reuters reported risks including torture, kidnapping and forced labor across the interviews. The sources do not establish who committed each reported act, and the joint publication does not convert every interview into a criminal or court finding. [3][1]

Protection and family-placement pathways remained limited

The report says about 214,600 children sought international protection in the covered European systems during 2025, with 79 percent filing a first application. Germany, France, Spain and Greece together received 71 percent of first-time child applications. Authorities issued about 210,900 first-instance decisions and 56 percent were positive, while the number of rejections rose by 25 percent from 2024. [2][1]

Only about 3,400 children entered refugee resettlement procedures, down from roughly 8,900 in 2024. The EU Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism relocated 199 children, none of them unaccompanied, a 67 percent decline. Those figures describe specific legal pathways and should not be added to arrival or asylum-application totals because a child can appear in more than one administrative series. [3][2]

What the agencies recommend

The agencies call for decisions based on each child's best interests, immediate access to legal representation and essential services, alternatives to detention and age assessments used only when necessary and subject to appeal. Their recommendation that children should not be detained is policy guidance grounded in child-protection standards; it does not mean the report found every reviewed country detained every child. [2][1]

The people most directly affected are children traveling without a caregiver, relatives trying to reunite with them, and local protection systems responsible for shelter, education, healthcare and legal help. The new publication is retrospective: it establishes 2025 patterns and does not measure arrivals or conditions so far in 2026. [1][2][4]

How the sources compare