Report: Over a million asylum applications in EU+ last year Report: Over a million asylum applications in EU+ last year

According to a media report, the number of asylum applications in the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland – also known as EU+ – exceeded the one million mark in 2023 for the first time since 2016. A total of 1.13 million asylum applications were submitted last year, as “Welt am Sonntag” reported, citing previously unpublished figures from the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA).

The increase in the number of asylum applications in the EU+ is therefore 17 percent compared to 2022 with 966,000 asylum applications. In Germany, the number of asylum applications in 2023 (329,120) increased by 51 percent compared to the previous year (217,774), significantly more than the European average. At the very bottom when it comes to the number of asylum applications in 2023 are Lithuania with 415 asylum applications and Hungary with 31 asylum applications in the entire year of 2023.

Germany remains the number 1 destination country for asylum applications. After Germany, Spain (161,732), France (160,769) and Italy (135,294) are the countries with the highest number of asylum seekers, as ‘Welt am Sonntag’ writes. Most asylum applications in Germany came from Syrians (29 percent), followed by people from Turkey (18 percent) and Afghanistan (15 percent). (sda/afp)