3.1.4.1. Asylum applications per capita

When considering asylum applications in relation to population size (see Figure 6, outer circle), on average about 2,400 applications per 1 million inhabitants were lodged across EU+ countries in 2023. In total, 12 out of 29 countries received more applications than the EU+ average.

Cyprus, Austria and Greece received the most asylum applications per capita

Figure 6. Number of asylum applications and number of positive and negative first instance decisions issued per capita by EU+ country, 2023 

Cyprus topped the list with around 13,000 applications lodged per 1 million inhabitants. While this was by far the highest value across EU+ countries, it represented roughly one-half of the level of 2022 (see Figure 7, left panel) and was marginally lower than in 2021. Other countries that experienced significant levels of pressure from the inflow of asylum applications included Austria (6,500 per 1 million inhabitants), Greece (6,200), Germany (4,000), Luxembourg (3,800), Bulgaria (3,500), Slovenia and Switzerland (3,400 each). Pressure from asylum applications in Austria halved compared to 2022, yet remained at the third-highest level on record, whereas the level of pressure in Greece was the highest in 4 years. In Germany, asylum applications per capita rose to a level not seen since 2016, while in Bulgaria, Estonia and Spain they rose to the highest on record. 

Conversely, in 2023, in 17 out of 29 EU+ countries, asylum applications relative to population size were on par or lower than the EU+ average. Among these, pressure from asylum applications in Italy rose to the most on record, whereas in France it remained similar to 2022, which was higher than in previous years. As in 2022, Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia (in ascending order) received the least asylum applications per capita (less than 130 applications per 1 million inhabitants each). Values were also relatively low for Portugal, Lithuania and Poland (under 260 per 1 million inhabitants).