EU receives over 75,000 asylum applications in February 2024 – Eurostat
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The statistical office of the European Union (EU) Eurostat said on Tuesday more than 75,000 first-time asylum applicants, mainly Syrians, applied for international protection in February 2024.
The asylum data published by Eurostat showed 75,445 first-time asylum applicants from outside of the EU were applied, an increase of less than two percent in comparison to February 2023, where they amounted to 74,295.
The data pointed out that Syrians continued to be the largest group of asylum-seekers with 10,465 first-time applicants, followed by Afghans with 6,950 applicants, and then came Venezuelans with 5,800 applicants.
Additionally, subsequent applicants totaled 7,000, which is a seven percent increase compared to 6,540 applicants in February 2023.
Germany, Spain, Italy, and France continued to receive the highest number of asylum applications, which accounted for 75 percent of all first-time applicants in the EU, according to Eurostat.
The highest rates of registered applicants in February, were recorded in Cyprus (87.1) and Greece (52.5) compared to the population of each EU country (on Jan. 1, 2023).
The data also indicated that 2,555 unaccompanied minors, mainly coming from Syria(710), Afghanistan (470), Egypt (145), Somalia (135) and Guinea (110) applied for asylum in EU countries in February 2024.
Moreover, Germany received the highest number of unaccompanied minors with 1,025 minors, next came the Netherlands with 385, Spain with 240, Greece with 215, and Italy with 190.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Syria remains the largest displacement crisis in the world with over 12 million Syrians displaced.