Cyprus was by far the first in new asylum applications in proportion to its population in 2021, according to the latest data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In particular, Cyprus recorded 14,799 asylum applications per million inhabitants in 2021, followed by Austria (4,111) and Slovenia (2,474).
The lowest number of new asylum applications in proportion to population was recorded in Hungary, where there were just four applications per million inhabitants in 2021. Low numbers were also recorded in Estonia (57) and Slovakia (60).
The average number of new asylum applications in the EU in that year stood at 1,196 per million population.
Data refer exclusively to new asylum applications and not to appeals against negative decisions.
Eurostat also recorded a 28% increase across the EU in asylum and international protection applications in 2021 compared to the previous year, as applications, in absolute terms, rose from 417,100 in 2020 to 535,000 in 2021.
These numbers, it noted, are at the levels asylum applications were at in 2014 just before the start of the civil war in Syria. More specifically, in 2014, 530,560 asylum applications were registered, while in 2015 the number rose to 1,216,860 and in 2016 to 1,166,815.
In Cyprus, the absolute number of new asylum applications almost doubled from 7.065 in 2020 to 13,260 in 2021.
Compared to the long-term trends, in 2014 there were 1,480 new asylum applications in Cyprus, which increased to 2,105 in 2015 and 2,840 in 2016. Since then, new applications have increased every year, despite a decline at the pan-European level.
Germany leads in asylum applications
In absolute numbers, the highest number of asylum seekers was recorded in Germany (148.175 applications, or 28% of the EU total).
France (103,790 or 19%), Spain (62,050 or 12%), Italy (43,900 or 8%) and Austria (36,725 or 7%) followed. As noted, these five countries together accounted for almost three-fifths of all asylum applications to the EU.
Mostly Syrian, Afghan, Iraqi applicants to the EU
40% of all asylum applications to EU Member States consisted of Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi citizens, with the largest proportion coming from Syria.
In particular, 98,320 asylum seekers in the EU came from Syria (18% of all applications), 83,520 from Afghanistan (16%) and 25,965 from Iraq (5%). Syria remains the country with the largest number of applicants, while Afghanistan is in second place for the third year in a row.
These three nationalities also made up the majority of applicants in Germany in 2021. Germany also recorded 56% of all Syrian asylum seekers in the EU, as well as 28% of all Afghan asylum seekers in the EU and 60% of all Iraqi asylum seekers in the EU.
Cyprus recorded the highest number out of a total of 13.260 asylum seekers in 2021 came from Syria (3,055), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (1,730) and Nigeria (1,555), Pakistan (995), India (990), Cameroon (775), Bangladesh (685), Somalia (680) and Nepal (620).
In terms of the global picture, 54% of asylum seekers in the EU in 2021 came from Asian countries (apart from the countries mentioned above, and with smaller percentages from Pakistan and Bangladesh), 25% from African countries (mainly Somalia, Morocco, Morocco, Nigeria, Eritrea and Tunisia with percentages around 10% from each country), 10% from non-EU European countries (mainly Turkey and Albania, with smaller percentages from Ukraine, Moldova and Russia) and 9% from North and South America (mainly from Venezuela and Colombia, with smaller percentages from Peru, Haiti and Honduras).
Source: CNA
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