European asylum applications soar above 800,000 in 2023, highest since 2016

More than 800,000 asylum applications have been filed in the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland this year up to October.

News Agency of Nigeria • October 10, 2023

Refugees seeking asylum photo used to illustrate this story (Credit: New York Times)

More than 800,000 asylum applications have been filed in the European Union, Norway, and Switzerland this year up to October.

Compared to the same period in previous years, this is the highest figure since 2016, the German newspaper Welt reported in its Tuesday edition, citing figures from the EU Asylum Agency, EUAA.

According to the figures, exactly 801,459 asylum applications were filed in the 29 states between the beginning of the year and October 3.

The largest increases were reported in Latvia, up 168 per cent, and Estonia, up 119 per cent.

The increase in irregular migration from Belarus explains this.

Germany came in third with a 74 per cent increase in the number of applications compared to the same period last year.

The largest decreases were reported in Denmark, down 56 per cent, Malta, down 54 per cent, Cyprus, which was down 52 per cent and Austria, down 41 per cent.

Hungary has the fewest asylum applications so far this year, with only 26 applications.

(dpa/NAN)

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.