Over 76,000 people apply for asylum in EU in May 2024 – Eurostat
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The statistical office of the European Union (EU) Eurostat said on Tuesday more than 76,000 first-time asylum applicants, mainly Syrians, applied for international protection in May 2024.
The asylum data published by Eurostat showed 76,795 first-time asylum applicants from outside of the EU were applied, a five percent decrease in comparison to May 2023, where they amounted to 80,455.
The data pointed out that Syrians continued to be the largest group of asylum-seekers with 11,460 first-time applicants, followed by Venezuelans with 6,170 applicants and then came Afghans with 5,535 applicants.
Additionally, subsequent applicants totaled 6,465, which is a 12 percent increase compared to 5,755 applicants in May 2023.
Germany continued to receive the highest number of asylum applications with a total of 18,175, which accounted for 24 percent of all first-time applicants in the EU, according to Eurostat.
The highest rates of registered applicants in May, were recorded in Ireland (37.4), followed by Greece (33.2), Spain (31.7) and Cyprus (29.9) compared to the population of each EU country (on Jan. 1, 2024).
The data also indicated that 2,565 unaccompanied minors, mainly coming from Syria(790) and Afghanistan (390), applied for asylum in EU countries in May 2024.
Moreover, Germany received the highest number of unaccompanied minors with 1,010 minors, next came the Netherlands with 360.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Syria remains the largest displacement crisis in the world with over 12 million Syrians displaced.