The Corona crisis has sharply reduced the number of asylum seekers in the European Union

Asylum applications in the European Union have fallen sharply since the start of the coronavirus crisis. The majority of asylum seekers still came from Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela. Around 32% of applications have been approved.

The European Union Asylum Support Office (EASO) says the number of asylum seekers in EU member states has decreased by 31% in 2020 compared to the previous year.

Referring to the 521,000 preliminary processing of asylum cases, the department adds that last year, officials were able to process more cases than new cases for the first time since 2017.

According to the European Union's Office for Migration and Asylum Support, a total of 461,300 asylum applications were submitted in 2020 in 27 EU member states, as well as Norway and Switzerland.

The majority of asylum seekers came from Syria, Afghanistan and Venezuela, as in the previous year. With a few exceptions, such as Belarus and Brazil, fewer asylum seekers arrived in Europe from all countries.

The European Union's asylum agency says that despite the coronavirus pandemic, national asylum authorities have kept the number of initial decisions on asylum seekers at the same level as in 2019.

With the decrease in asylum applications and the maintenance of the preliminary examination of cases, the number of pending cases has decreased to about 74,000. While at the end of 2020, according to the same office, 412,000 cases had not yet been preliminary examined.

The number of asylum applications granted remained stable at 32 percent last year. Citizens of Syria, Eritrea, and Yemen had the highest chance of being granted asylum. Conversely, Colombians and Venezuelans had the lowest chance of being granted asylum.

Source: DW