Europe sees fewer asylum applications in 2024

The number of asylum applications in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland fell by about 11% last year, according to the Malta-based European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), reported dpa.

In a report released on Monday, the agency said about 1.01 million applications for asylum were filed in 2024.

This was a slight decrease compared to 2023's figure of 1.14 million, EUAA said.

At the end 2024, there were about 4.4 million Ukrainian refugees who were the beneficiaries of temporary protection in the 27 EU member states as well as in Norway and Switzerland.

They had fled Ukraine following Russia's invasion of its neighbour. Half were hosted in Germany and Poland, but the Czech Republic hosted the most beneficiaries per capita, the EUAA said.

Syrians lodged fewer applications than the year before, but were still the group that applied the most for protection.

Despite a declining trend, Germany still received the most applications with 237,000, representing 23% of all applications lodged.

Nearly a third of all applications in Germany were lodged by Syrian nationals, followed by Afghan and Turkish nationals, the report said.

Cyprus and Greece received the most applications per capita.