It is hard to find definitive reasons, but conversations with Syrians across the migration trail and a survey of recently available data suggest a mixture of the following.
Furthermore, an estimated 24,000 people are thought to have journeyed along the Balkans migration trail, and the number of people arriving in Italy by boat hit a new annual record last year.
In September 2015, just four countries voted against the relocation deal, and only one of them – Hungary – lay on the path of the Balkans migration trail.
For those familiar with other parts of the European migration trail, the scenes in Sweden will seem contained and organised compared with the chaos in places such as the Greek island of Lesbos, where refugees are left to walk and even sometimes sleep in the rain, with little institutional support.
Zoe's winning article, 'Migration Trail Stops in Morocco', followed the plight of sub-Saharan immigrants trying to reach Europe and featured in the Guardian Weekly international development section.
Countries along the Balkan migration trail have begun refusing to admit people of certain nationalities, amid a backlash against refugees in the aftermath of the Paris attacks last Friday.
In recent days, Hungary's hardline prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has called for Greece to be walled off from the rest of Europe – or at least from Macedonia, the next step along the migration trail towards Germany.
On the migration trail this year in Europe, the Guardian encountered several young men who say they need asylum because the only life left to them in Syria is the prospect of death on the battlefield.
At least 24,000 people are believed to have made the journey along the Balkans migration trail since European leaders declared the route shut in early March, highlighting how migration continues despite the construction of several fences along borders in eastern and central Europe.
His book The New Odyssey: The Story of Europe's Refugee Crisis includes reporting from 17 countries along the European migration trail last year.
