Published: Less than 20 min ago
The number of asylum applications in Europe increased last year after the travel restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus were lifted.
In 2022, 966,000 people sought asylum in Europe’s 27 member states as well as Switzerland and Norway, according to preliminary figures from the European Asylum Agency EUAA.
The figure is an increase of 50 percent compared to 2021, and is the highest since 2016 when just over 1,250,000 applications were registered.
Syrians and Afghans together accounted for a quarter of the applications, but many from Turkey, Venezuela, Colombia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Georgia also sought protection.
Ukrainian citizens who fled the war are mostly not included in the statistics because they are covered by the EU’s so-called mass migration directive, which gives refugees from Ukraine a residence permit and access to the labor market and healthcare.