Over half a million migrants have been counted on the European Union's border so far this year, up from 280,000 in 2014, the bloc's Frontex external border agency said Tuesday.

"More than 500,000 migrants were detected at EU borders in the first eight months of this year after a fifth consecutive monthly record was registered in August when 156,000 crossed the EU borders," a Frontex statement said, adding "there were 280,000 detections" at EU borders last year.