Nearly 274,000 illegal immigrants entered the EU in 2014, against about 100,000 in 2013, says the European Agency for border surveillance (FRONTEX), based in Warsaw.
In a report relayed Thursday by the Polish press, Frontex said that most illegal immigrants come from Syria, a country ravaged by war, followed by Eritrea, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq and Libya.
Frontex added that Libya has become "the main departure point for migrants" because of the chaotic situation in the country.
"The developments related to the Islamic State group also played a role" in the explosion in the number of asylum seekers, which joined the EU in 2014, mainly through the Mediterranean, said the report, which notes that 164,000 immigrants applied for asylum in the EU in the third quarter of 2014 an increase of 69 per cent year on year.
The Syrians come in first with 40,752 applicants.