Number Of First-Time Asylum Applicants In EU Surged 64% In 2022 - Eurostat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) The number of non-European Union citizens seeking asylum in the EU for the first time increased by 64% in 2022 compared with the previous year, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said on Thursday.

"In 2022, 881,200 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries, up by 64% compared with 2021 (537,400)," the statement read.

In 2022, EU member states granted 4,331,200 temporary protection statuses for refugees from Ukraine, however, on December 31, 2022, 3,826,600 non-EU citizens had temporary protection in the EU, the statement said, adding that the difference between the two figures is linked to the termination of the temporary protection status, as people either left the EU or obtained another status.

With 217,735 first-time asylum applicants or 25% of their total number in the EU, Germany continued to be the bloc's state with the highest number of asylum applications in 2022, the statistics office said, adding that it was followed by France (16%), Spain (13%), Austria (12%) and Italy (9%).

The currently observed increase in asylum applications has not reached the figures registered in 2015-2016, when over 1 million people applied for internal protection in the EU due to the war in Syria.