Number of Asylum Seekers in Europe Sharply Declines

In 2018, the number of migrants who filed asylum requests with the European Union dropped significantly, reaching levels from five years earlier, before the 2015 migration surge.

The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) announced on Thursday, March 14, in Luxembourg that last year 580,800 people filed asylum requests for the first time. This figure is 11 percent lower than 2017 and has nearly returned to levels from five years ago.

One quarter of all asylum applications across the European Union were received by German authorities, accounting for 161,900 requests. Thus, Germany received the highest number of asylum requests in the European Union. However, if we compare the number of asylum seekers in Germany with the country’s population, we see that Germany is not at the top of countries where asylum seekers have filed requests.

For example, Cyprus had 8,805 asylum applicants per one million population, and Greece had 6,051 asylum applicants per one million population. In Germany, there were 1,954 asylum requests per one million population.

This ratio in Slovakia was 28 asylum applicants per one million population last year. Poland with 63 and Hungary with 65 asylum applicants per one million population are among the countries with fewer asylum seekers.

In 2018, compared to 2017, the number of people who filed asylum requests within Germany declined by 18 percent. In total, 36,000 people filed asylum requests for the first time in Germany. Meanwhile, this figure increased by 70 percent in Cyprus and 60 percent in Spain.

Syrians have had the largest number of asylum seekers in Germany since 2013. Last year, 80,900 Syrians filed asylum requests in the European Union, with the names of half of them registered in Germany. The next largest group of asylum seekers was Afghans with 41,000, followed by Iraqis with 39,600 people.

Source: DW