124,935 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave an EU country and 28,630 were actually returned to third countries in the fourth quarter of 2024. These figures, published today by the European Statistical Office Eurostat, show an increase in comparison both with the previous three months (+11.5% in orders to leave and +3.3% in actual returns) and with the same quarter of 2023 (+16.3% and +24.3% respectively). Most of the orders to leave were issued to Algerians (11,362), Syrians (8,674) and Moroccans (8,561), but the majority of those returned were from Georgia (3,351), Turkey (2,492) and Albania (1,982). The highest numbers of orders to leave were issued by France (31,880), Spain (18,645) and Germany (15,135), while the highest numbers of people returned to third countries were recorded in Germany (6,170), France (3,705), and Sweden (2,600). In the fourth quarter of 2024, Italy issued 7,515 orders to leave and 1,265 people were actually pushed back across the EU’s borders by the Italian authorities.