Fewer asylum applications in Cyprus

A total of 645 asylum seekers sought international protection in Cyprus in April, a significant reduction compared to April 2022, when there were 2,300 new applications, according to Eurostat.

There were 72,630 first-time asylum applicants in the EU in April, marking a 34% increase compared with 2022 (54,350).

There were also 5,310 subsequent applicants, a 5% decrease compared with April 2022 (5,610).

Syrians

As in the previous months, Syrians were the largest group of people seeking asylum in the EU (9,420 first-time applicants).

They were followed by Afghans (7,405), ahead of Venezuelans (5,785), Colombians (4,770) and Turks (4,640).

Following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, there was a significant increase in Ukrainian first-time asylum applicants (from 2,105 in February 2022 to 12,190 in March 2022), but the numbers have decreased monthly, down to 895 in April.

This is also because people fleeing Ukraine benefit from temporary protection.

In April, the number of first-time asylum applicants with Russian citizenship ranked 12th with 1,720 applications.

Germany

Germany (20 950), Spain (12 910), France (10 260) and Italy (8 175) received the highest number of first-time asylum applicants, accounting for almost three-quarters (72 %) of all first-time applicants in the EU.

There were 162 first-time asylum applicants per million people in the EU in April 2023.

Compared with the population of each EU country, nine Member States had a higher rate than the overall EU ratio.

The lowest rate was observed in Hungary (0.4).

Unaccompanied minors

Some 2,625 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU, mostly from Afghanistan (895) and Syria (685).

The EU countries which received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in April were Germany (1,105), ahead of the Netherlands (340) and Austria (285).

Due to temporary derogations, there is no data on applications by unaccompanied minors in Cyprus, France, and Poland.