Europe's handling of the crisis has been central to an intense diplomatic debate at the UN this week.
At a special UN meeting held on the sidelines of the General Assembly, the UN chief outlined an eight-point plan that included managed migration to open up more safe and legal channels for asylum seekers.
Leaders from around 70 nations have met at the United Nations Headquarters on the side-lines of UN General Assembly.
Member States discussed the challenges and responsibilities, as well as the opportunities, that large migrant and refugee movements bring.
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, called on Europe to do more amid sharp divisions among leaders on how to respond to the crisis.
"We face the biggest refugee and migration crisis since World War II. Over the last year, more than 60 million people have been forced from their homes. Desperate conditions are compelling people around the world to move. The Syria crisis is a tragic and dramatic illustration of this."
The strain of sheltering the world's largest refugee population is showing in Turkey.
The country has more than two million refugees from its war-torn southern neighbour, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned that absorbing them is not a long-term fix.
"Burden-sharing is urgently needed for all neighbouring countries. It is no longer just to expect from Turkey or the neighbouring countries to face the migratory pressures, the risks and threats alone."
It's from Turkey that many migrants and refugees take - often unseaworthy - vessels to Greece.
A record 300,000 or more Syrians and other migrants have arrived in Greece this year.
Greece has been criticised by some EU countries, such as Hungary, for its lack of border control measures and soft asylum seeker policy.
But Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the wave of people cannot be physically prevented from moving on, and he's calling for a more humane approach to the crisis.
"If we deal with them by bringing more distraction, by building higher walls, we will lose. If we manage to ensure security, decisively but also inclusively, if we build a new growth-oriented development model humanely and effectively, we will succeed."
From Greece, hundreds of thousands of migrants cross the Balkans to get to northern European countries like Germany and Sweden.
It's been a huge strain on some of the smaller and under-resourced nations.
A particular source of EU friction is Hungary, which lies at the end of this Balkans route.
It has sealed its border with Serbia and is threatening to follow suit with Croatia, which is currently the main crossing point.
Hungary has criticised richer European countries like Germany for their open-door migration policy.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Europe's migration crisis is much too big for Europe to handle alone.
"Let me make it absolutely clear, Europe will not be able to carry this burden on her own. If there is no change in the current trend, Europe will be destabilized. Based on this fact I urge the Secretary General to initiate negotiations on sharing this burden on a global level."
Leaders have also called on more efforts to solve the Syrian conflict.
According to the latest figures from the UN refugee agency, Syrians made up more than 50 per cent of the 521,000 migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean this year.
Many others come from Iraq which, like Syria, has seen IS extremists overrun massive areas.
Croatia's minister of Foreign Affairs, Vesna Pusic, spoke about an ambitious deadline to restore calm and peace in Syria.
"I agree that we need to discuss and maybe also discuss globally the quotas in order to deal with the problem at hand, but this will not really solve this problem. So while discussing the refugees we also have to very much focus on how we can of stopping the war in Syria and stopping the war in Syria this winter."
A Greek passenger ferry carrying almost 2,000 migrants has arrived in Greece.
Many appear tired but happy to have made Greek shores.
They say their homeland, Syria, is currently unlivable and know their future in Europe is still uncertain.
"Assad's army are dropping missiles and bombs on us and on civilians, so I have to escape from Syria. We wish to pass. We don't know anything, how to pass, but we just wish, we have a wish in our pocket, just a wish."
Share
