EU January asylum applications down 23 percent as Venezuela leads flows; 1.22 million‑case backlog weighs on system

Brussels – In January 2026, 51,160 non-European citizens applied for international protection for the first time in an EU country. This figure, reported in Eurostat’s monthly bulletin on asylum data across the EU, represents a 23 percent decrease compared to the 66,745 applications recorded in January 2025 and a 7 percent increase from the previous month (December 2025). In addition to the 51,000 applications, there were a further 9,500 subsequent applications from applicants who re-submitted an application after a final decision: an increase of 9 percent from the previous year. 

Venezuelans and Afghans top the list. Venezuela, which in 2025 was the second-most common country of origin for asylum seekers, remains the main country of origin, with 7,300 applications submitted for the first time in January alone. They are followed by Afghanistan (4,790), Bangladesh (2,940), and Egypt (2,280). The trend for Venezuelan nationals was already evident in the final quarter of 2025, when they accounted for around 13.9 percent of all applicants in the EU. The distribution of asylum seekers within the Union remains highly localized. Also in January 2026, Spain (10,860), Italy (10,660), France (9,290), and Germany (7,645) combined accounted for 75 percent of all first asylum applications in the EU, just as they had received 80 percent of applications throughout 2025.

 However, looking at the number of applications relative to the resident population, the ranking changes: Greece recorded the highest rate, with 46.7 applicants per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Spain (22.1) and Ireland (20.1). 

One particularly sensitive figure concerns unaccompanied minors. In January 2026, 1,220 minors sought protection in the EU without adult support. Most of them came from Egypt (270), Somalia (175), Venezuela (155), Afghanistan (140), and Sudan (70); while the five countries receiving the highest number of applications were Greece (375), Germany (200), Spain (170), the Netherlands (135), and France (110). 

The January figures come against a backdrop of a gradual decline from the peaks of 2023: the report outlines trends in asylum applications in the European Union between January 2022 and January 2026, distinguishing between first-time applicants and those submitting subsequent applications. Regarding first-time applicants, towards the end of 2023, there was a peak at 114,805 applications in October; subsequently, during 2024 and 2025, the number of first-time applications showed a general downward trend, albeit with seasonal fluctuations, stabilizing at significantly lower levels than the 2023 records. As for the trend in subsequent applications, this remained essentially stable and low (below 10,000 per month) for almost the entire 2022–2024 period. Eurostat, however, reports an increase in the second half of 2025, with a peak of 16,440 applications in September, before falling back to around 11,000 in December 2025. 

Despite the slowdown in new arrivals, the European asylum system remains under pressure due to the huge backlog of cases still to be processed: at the end of December 2025, there were approximately 1.22 million applications awaiting a final decision in the EU, a decrease of 0.5 percent from November 2025 and 2.2 percent from December 2024. Italy has the third-highest number of pending cases (over 234,000, 19.2 percent of the total), surpassed only by Germany (almost 307,000, 25.1 percent) and Spain (almost 249,000, 20.4 percent).