Asylum applications fall by 21% in 11 months

2025-02-20 07:47:00, Ekonomi CNA

Asylum is no longer the preferred form of immigration. For the first 11 months of 2024, according to Eurostat data, around 6.8 thousand citizens from Albania applied for international protection in EU countries.

The number of applicants has fallen by 21% compared to the same period a year ago and is the lowest in at least a decade, even compared to the pandemic period.

France continues to be the main destination for asylum seekers. There were 2,100 citizens who sought international protection in the French state in the 11 months of the year, accounting for 31% of the total applications to EU countries. Italy came in second place, with 1,735 applications, or 26% of the total. Germany is third, which has processed 1,355 requests, or 20% of the total. Greece is fourth, with 940 applications. Belgium (335) and Ireland (165) follow.

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In November 2024, 75,045 non-EU citizens applied for asylum for the first time in European Union countries, marking a decrease of 14% compared to October 2024 (86,920) and a decrease of 31% compared to November 2023 (108,895).

There were also 6,430 previous applicants, marking a 14% decrease compared to October 2024 (7,475) and a 5% decrease compared to November 2023 (6,740).

Syrians remain the largest group of asylum seekers

In November 2024, Syrians continued to be the largest group of people seeking asylum, with 11,565 first-time applicants, followed by Venezuelans (7,210) and Afghans (5,880).

Germany (16,820), Spain (14,925), Italy (11,620) and France (11,345) continued to be the countries with the highest number of first-time asylum applications, accounting for 73% of total applications in the EU.

The overall rate of first-time applications in the EU in November 2024 was 16.7 per hundred thousand inhabitants. Compared to the population of each EU country (as of 1 January 2024), the highest rates of asylum applications were recorded in Greece (79.5), followed by Cyprus (42.4), Spain and Luxembourg (30.7 each).

In total, 2,820 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU, most of them from Syria (860), Egypt (395) and Afghanistan (385). The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors was Germany (875), followed by Greece (525) and Spain (320)./ Monitor Magazine