Nearly 400,000 refugees and migrants have reached Greece by boat from Turkey so far this year, making the southern European country by far the biggest entry point in the Mediterranean, followed by Italy with 131,000 arrivals, the United Nations said on Friday.
A total of 168,000 people crossed the Mediterranean in September, the highest monthly figure ever recorded and almost five times the number in September last year, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
"As of this morning (Friday), a total of 396,500 people have entered Greece by sea since 1 January, more than 153,000 of them in September," UNHCR said.
Syrians made up 70 percent of the arrivals, Afghans 18 percent and Iraqis four percent, according to UNHCR.
Although windy autumn weather had caused a sharp drop in sea arrivals this week, any improvement in the weather is likely to bring another surge in sea arrivals, the agency warned.
The rougher seas have made the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece even more perilous, UNHCR said, citing the deaths of a woman and a young boy off the island of Lesbos on Wednesday and the rescue of 283 people that day in four separate operations.
At least 102 people have perished in Greek waters this year while close to 3,000 people have died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean, UNHCR said.
The number of people arriving in Greece continued to put enormous pressure on the government and local communities, which were struggling to register and shelter the migrants and refugees, UNHCR said.
Greece's island ports can be crowded with between 10,000 and 14,000 people a day awaiting transfer to Athens aboard daily ferries, it stated.
UNHCR urged rapid implementation of the European Union's controversial plan to redistribute 160,000 asylum-seekers across the bloc from Greece and Italy that was approved by a majority of EU heads of government last month but opposed by four eastern European countries.
European countries are locked in an increasingly bitter war of words over what to do with the hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees landing on their doorstep, seeking refuge from war, poverty and persecution.
Slovakia this week announced plans to take Brussels to the European Court of Justice, arguing the proposed quotas to relocate asylum-seekers breach EU rules.
