Nearly half million people denied entry into EU in 2018

Nearly half a million non-EU citizens were denied entry into the EU countries in 2018, according to a Eurostat statement on Friday.

The statement said 471,000 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU at one of its external borders last year.

This was 7% higher than the numbers in 2017, it added.

"Around 602,000 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in one of the EU Member States," the statement said.

It said the number of non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave an EU member state reached 478,000 persons.

"Some 198,000 non-EU citizens, following an order to leave, were returned to another country [including other EU Member States], of these 158,000 were returned outside the EU," it added.