You're listening to European Parliament Research Service podcasts on migration.

Pushed by war and poverty and pulled by the dream of a better life, hundreds and thousands

of people embark on perilous journeys to reach the EU's borders.

In this podcast, we'll look at EU action to respond to this unprecedented migratory crisis and the challenges ahead.

Stay with us.

According to Frontex, the EU's external borders agency, more than 1,200,000 people entered the EU illegally by the end of October 2015, compared to 235,000 during the same period a year earlier, that's five times more.

These figures comprise both asylum seekers who are escaping persecution in their own country

and economic migrants who are escaping poverty. According to the European Asylum Support Office,

in the first nine months of 2015, more than

890,000 people, mainly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Western Balkans, have asked

for asylum in the EU, especially in Germany, Sweden, Italy, France and Hungary.

But to reach the EU's doors, migrants must travel routes fraught with perils.

The UN Refugee Agency estimates that more than 2,600 people have drowned in the Mediterranean this year

by trying to reach the Greek and Italian shores, and the so-called Western Balkans route

is rapidly turning into a lucrative business for human traffickers.

In the face of this humanitarian drama, the EU has been forced to take quick decisions

and rethink the way it has traditionally dealt with migration and asylum issues.

Let's take a closer look.

The status and legal definition of a refugee is set out in the Geneva Convention,

which stipulates that no state shall expel or return a refugee to the frontiers of territories

where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality,

membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

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