In 2024, 912 415 non-EU citizens lodged a first-time asylum application in the EU, indicating a 13.1% decrease from 1 049 508 in 2023. At the same time, 780 280 people having fled Ukraine received temporary protection, indicating a 26.1% drop from 1 056 010 in 2023.
During the first quarter of 2025, 183 809 first-time asylum applicants and 136 113 new temporary protection decisions were recorded in the EU. Compared with the first quarter of 2024, these correspond to decreases of 23.5% and 30.9%, respectively. Developments in the first quarter of 2025 confirm the downward trend observed in 2024.
For every 1 000 people in the EU in 2024, there were 2.0 first-time asylum applicants and 1.7 new temporary protection decisions.
The highest ratios of asylum applicants per 1 000 people were recorded in Cyprus (7.2), Greece (6.6) and Ireland and Spain (both 3.4). The highest ratios of people granted temporary protection per thousand people were recorded in Czechia (7.1), Slovakia (4.8) and Poland (4.5).
Source datasets: migr_asyapp1mp and migr_asytpfa
In 2024, Syrians were the largest group of people seeking asylum in the EU (148 185 first-time asylum applicants, 16.2% of the EU total). Next were citizens of Venezuela (72 790, 8.0%), Afghanistan (72 240, 7.9%), Colombia (50 320, 5.5%) and Türkiye (46 840, 5.1%).
Among the top 24 citizenships of first-time asylum seekers in 2024 with more than 10 000 applicants, the recognition rate at first instance varied between 7.0% (Colombia) and 91.5% (Syria). Aside from Colombia, the first-instance recognition rate was below 20% for citizens from Georgia, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Peru, Bangladesh, and Türkiye. In contrast, it was higher than the average (51.4%) for citizens from Palestine*, Venezuela, Mali, Ukraine, Eritrea, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Source dataset: migr_asyappctza
This article marks World Refugee Day taking place on 20 June to draw attention to people fleeing their home country to escape conflict or persecution.