Immigration, 20 per cent more first asylum applications in 2023

Brussels – In 2023, the European Union recorded 1,048,900 first asylum applications, a 20 per cent increase in applications for international protection upon arrival in EU territory compared to 2022 (873,000). Eurostat, in releasing the consolidated data, points out that “after a significant drop in 2020 (417,100), numbers have increased for three consecutive years, reaching the peaks recorded in 2015 and 2016 (1,216,900 and 1,166,800) after the war in Syria.”

Syria is the first country in terms of non-EU citizens applying for protection and has remained number one since 2013. In 2023, Syrians filed 183,000 first-time applications (17 per cent of the total number of first-time applications). Next come Afghanistan (100,900, 10 per cent of the EU total) and Turkey (90 thousand applications, 9 per cent of the total). Applications for international protection from South American nationals are also reported (Venezuela and Colombia, both accounting for 6 per cent of the total, or 67,100 and 62 thousand, respectively).

Germany emerges as the top EU member state in terms of the number of registered applications (329,000), accounting for nearly a third of all first-time asylum seekers (31 per cent). Next come Spain (160,500, 15 per cent), France (145,100, 14 per cent), and Italy (130,600, 12 per cent). These four EU countries together accounted for nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of all non-EU nationals making their first asylum claim in 2023.

Looking instead at “concentration,” that is, the number of applications per thousand inhabitants, Cyprus (13), Greece and Austria (6 each) are the top EU countries in terms of migration pressure.