According to a press release published by Eurostat today, 881 200 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries in 2022. After a considerable drop in 2020 (417 100), the numbers increased for two consecutive years but still have not reached the peaks registered in 2015 and 2016 (over 1 million applicants in both years) related to the war in Syria.

Among other findings, Eurostat highlights that:

• Almost half (46%) of the first-time asylum applicants in 2022 had Asian citizenship, while 22% had African citizenship, 17% had European citizenship (non-EU) and 14% had North or South American citizenship. 
   
• Syrian, Afghan, Venezuelan and Turkish are the main citizenships of first-time asylum applicants.
   
• One quarter of EU asylum applications were made in Germany. Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Italy accounted for three-quarters (75%) of all first-time asylum applicants in the EU.
   
• Compared with the population of each EU country, the highest number of registered first-time asylum applicants in 2022 was recorded in Cyprus (23 864 first-time applicants per million people), ahead of Austria (11 848) and Luxembourg (3 711).

Please read the full press release for additional information.