The number of first-time asylum applications filed at the European Union Member States has reached over 72,000 in the month of April, a report by the EU’s Agency for statistics, Eurostat, reveals.
The number represents a 34 per cent increase compared to April 2022, when 54,350 applications were submitted.
According to the report, Syrians represented the largest group of asylum seekers in April 2023, with 9,420 first-time applications. Afghans came in second with 7,405, followed by Venezuelans (5,785), Colombians (4770) and then Turkish citizens with 4,640 applications overall.
“Following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, there was a significant increase in Ukrainian first-time asylum applicants (from 2,105 in February 2022 to 12,190 in March 2022), but the numbers have been decreasing monthly down to 895 in April 2023,” the report revealed.
Russian citizens account for a total of 1,720 of the first-time asylum seekers lodged in April 2023, placing them in the 12th position overall among all nationalities.
The countries which received the highest number of first-time asylum applications in April 2023 were:
- Germany (20,950)
- Spain (12,910)
- France (10,260)
- Italy (8,175)
The same nations accounted for about 72 per cent of all first-time applications in the EU.
In April 2023, there were 162 first-time asylum applications per million individuals in the EU. Nine Member States had a greater rate than the total EU ratio as of January 2023 when compared to the populations of each EU member state. Hungary recorded the lowest rate at only 0.4.
Afghanistan & Syria Lead Minor First-Time Asylum Applications
Germany leads the list of EU countries that registered the highest number of asylum applicants from unaccompanied youngsters (1,105), followed by the Netherlands (340) and then Austria with 285 minor asylum requests.
As per repeated applicants, there were a total of 5,310 applications registered, which was five per cent lower in comparison to April last year, which registered 5,610 repeated applications in total.
The number of total applications recorded in the following month, in May, has also increased to a total of 87,000 asylum applications due to an influx in applications lodged by Syrian, Afghan & Turkish nationals, early released data by the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA) reveal.
The highest number of applications came from Syrians, Afghans, Venezuelans, Colombians, Turks and Peruvians. The countries which submitted the most asylum applications were Germany and Spain.
