EU registers more than a million asylum applications in 2023

The number of asylum applications in the EU countries, Norway and Switzerland rose significantly last year. 1.1 million people sought protection. Most applicants come from Syria and Afghanistan. The main target country is still Germany.

More and more people are seeking refuge in the European Union. According to that Annual report of the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA) In 2023, 1.14 million refugees applied for asylum in the 27 EU member states as well as in Norway and Switzerland. That’s an increase of 18 percent compared to 2022.

Germany will remain the most important destination country for asylum seekers in the EU in 2023. According to the information, the Federal Republic accepted almost a third of all applications submitted in the EU. Between January and December 2023, 334,000 new asylum applications were registered. According to the asylum agency, most applicants once again came from the civil war-torn Syria, followed by Afghanistan.

The third largest group in 2023 was migrants from Turkey. The number of asylum applications from the country has increased by 82 percent compared to the previous year. And the number of Palestinians applying for asylum has also risen to a record high of almost 11,600 as a result of the war in the Middle East, it said. However, it is difficult to accurately record their number because the majority of EU member states do not recognize Palestine as a state.

Asylum applications in the EU almost at the level of 2015

In 2015 – the year of the so-called refugee crisis – over a million people applied for asylum in the EU. At that time there were even more at around 1.3 million, but the extent of the challenge in 2023 goes beyond the increase in asylum applications, as the EUAA’s annual report outlines: “Around 4.4 million displaced people from Ukraine are also receiving temporary asylum Protection, which will significantly increase the total number of people in need of protection arriving in the EU.”

According to the report, the recognition rate of asylum applications in the EU rose to 43 percent in 2023, which is the highest level in seven years. The applications from Syria (80 percent) and Afghanistan (61 percent) were approved most frequently.