Figures released this week show that in January of this year, a total of 84,740 people applied for asylum for the first time in EU member countries, which is 3% more than in December.
As in previous months, the largest nationalities were Syrian, followed by Afghan and Turkish. Russian asylum seekers ranked seventh, with 2,560 applications.
According to the United Nations, since 2011, more than 14 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety, initially caused by a Government clampdown against protests. More than 6.8 million Syrians remain internally displaced in their own country where 70 percent of the population is in need of humanitarian assistance and 90 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
In January 2023, Germany (30,450), France (13,520), Spain (10,885), Italy (8,415) and Austria (4,095) received the highest number of first-time asylum applicants, accounting for over three-quarters (79%) of all first-time applicants in the EU.
In January 2023, 3,100 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU, +6% compared with December 2022 (2,930), double the increase in overall applicants.
On the other hand, in 2022, EU countries granted protection status to 384,245 asylum seekers, 40% more than in 2021. Of these, 44% received refugee status, 31% that of subsidiary protection and 25% that of humanitarian protection.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain were the four countries that accounted for 73% of all applications at the EU level.
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