Almost continually since August 2022, the EU+ countries (EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland) have been receiving more than 80,000 asylum applications per month, marking at that time a significant increase that had not been observed for many years. By August 2023, this figure escalated even further to more than 100,000 applications, a level reminiscent of the refugee crisis of 2015-16. This intensification continued over the next four months; in November 2023 nearly 118,000 applications were lodged in the EU+. Excluding December, the EU+ has already received more than one million asylum applications in 2023 (1,057,000).

Moreover, the true scope of the challenge extends beyond the high level of asylum applications because approximately 4.3 million displaced persons from Ukraine are also benefitting from Temporary Protection, thereby adding a significant layer to the overall count of individuals arriving in the EU+ with protection needs.

These concurrent trends - the surge in asylum applications and the influx of displaced persons from Ukraine - are exerting immense strain on the EU+ asylum and reception systems. National authorities are being pushed to their limits in their efforts to accommodate and safeguard those in need.

In November 2023, Syrians, consistently at the forefront of asylum applications in the EU+, submitted 23,000 applications, slightly less than the seven-year peak reached in October.  Usually, Afghans have formed the second-largest applicant group but recent data indicates a notable change, with Turkish nationals becoming the second largest group. In fact, in November Turks lodged 13,900 applications which is down slightly from record-setting October but still represented a 67% increase from November 2022. Conversely, Afghan applications declined by 37% to 9,400 over the same period.

These three nationalities share several commonalities. So far in 2023, they were the most frequently detected nationalities illegally crossing the EU external border via the Western Balkan route. Furthermore, Germany remained as the primary destination for these three nationalities, with half of all Syrian applications, nearly three quarters of all Turkish applications, and over a third of Afghan applications being lodged there in November 2023. This trend underscores Germany’s role as a key destination within the EU+.

Statelessness is defined differently among EU+ countries (Read EUAA Asylum report) which impacts data quality and situational awareness, however it has become clear that more Palestinians are lodging asylum applications in the EU+. In November 2023, the number of applications reached 1,700, the highest ever recorded and nearly twice the figure from the same month in 2022. The majority of these were first-time applications, implying that most applicants had recently arrived in the EU+. However, the available data does not offer detailed insights into their specific circumstances. It is noteworthy that the surge in applications took place almost exclusively in Greece, where repeated applications were extremely rare.

In a trend seemingly detached from irregular migration, there persists a high volume of asylum applications from Venezuelans and Colombians, and to a lesser extent, Peruvians. These Latin American nationals, who enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen area, continued to submit significant numbers of applications in November 2023: 6,200 from Venezuela, 5,500 from Colombia, and 2,100 from Peru. While these figures represented a slight decrease from recent peaks, they were markedly higher compared to the same month in 2022 (+30%, +14%, and +57%, respectively). The vast majority of these applications were lodged in Spain, accounting for 86% of Venezuelan applications and nearly 80% of Colombian applications in November 2023, plus nearly all were first-time applications, suggesting that the applicants were newly arrived in the EU+. In response to challenges linked to visa-free travel, particularly the high numbers of unfounded asylum applications, the Commission adopted a proposal in October 2023 to strengthen the visa suspension mechanism.

To eliminate month-to-month fluctuations, the above chart offers a comprehensive overview of the asylum application trends of the top 20 nationalities in November 2023, over the last 12 months (yellow) in comparison to the preceding 12 months (blue). Syrians and Afghans lodged the most applications for asylum during both these time periods. However, Syrian applications saw a considerable increase (+42%), whereas Afghans applications declined by 7%.

Most citizenships in the chart exhibited an upward change in their application numbers, which is to some extent a statistical artefact because nationalities with declining trends are more likely to fall out of the top 20, while those with increasing trends tend to rise into the ranking. Nevertheless, it is notable that Ivorians and Turks both lodged more or less twice as many applications in the 12 months leading up to November 2023. Similarly, Guineans, Peruvians and Egyptians were just shy of also doubling their applications. Palestinians and Russians also lodged many more applications during the same period.

In contrast, among these top citizenships, only Ukrainians (many of whom are eligible for Temporary Protection), Tunisians and Nigerians, lodged substantially fewer applications in the 12 months leading up to November 2023.

In November 2023, Germany maintained its position as the foremost destination for asylum seekers in the EU+, receiving 37,000 applications or 32% of all applications lodged in the EU+. Remarkably, Germany alone received more applications than the next two receiving countries combined: France with 14% of all applications (16,000) and Italy with 12% (15,000). Spain too featured prominently in the asylum landscape with 14,000 applications which represented a non-trivial 12% of all applications in the EU+. It is worth noting that collectively these four countries received more than two thirds of all applications lodged in the EU+ during this period.

Certain citizenships tend to lodge the vast majority of their applications in a single EU+ country. In November 2023, these included Venezuelans and Colombians who both lodged around 80% of all their applications in Spain, Tunisians, Bangladeshi’s and Egyptians who lodged between 60% and 70% of their applications in Italy, Palestinians who lodged three quarters of their applications in Greece, and Turks who lodged three quarters of their applications in Germany.

Evaluating which EU+ countries tend to receive the most applications for asylum is important but to some extent a simple like-for-like comparison is not appropriate because the EU+ countries vary wildly in terms of the size and capacity of their asylum and reception systems. As a rough measure of their overall capacity and a more nuanced estimation of the pressure exerted on national authorities, this chart illustrates the number of asylum applications lodged per million inhabitants (Eurostat population data).

In November 2023, Cyprus, with a small population size of around 921,000, received 1,400 asylum applications. This amounts to a rate of 1,500 applications per million population, or 1 application for every 650 inhabitants. In contrast, Germany reported many more applications for asylum (circa 37,000); however, given its larger population of 84 million, the German rate is lower at 440 applications per million inhabitants, or 1 application per 2,300 inhabitants. Belgium and Slovenia, while receiving very different numbers of applications per se (3,200 and 600, respectively), tended to be under similar pressure per capita: each country received just under 300 applications per million population.

Taking the whole EU+ into consideration: its population of 463 million and 118,000 asylum applications received in November 2023, converts to 250 applications per million population, or about 1 application for every 4,000 persons.

Uniquely among EU+ countries, Hungary received no applications for asylum in November 2023, probably because since 2020, applicants are required to submit a declaration of intent at a Hungarian embassy in a non-EU country before they can enter the country and apply for international protection. Read more in the EUAA Asylum Report 2021.

In addition to asylum applications, as of the end of November 2023, there were also 4.3 million persons benefiting from temporary protection in the EU+. This protection is based on a 2001 Directive which was triggered for the first time in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 with the aim of offering quick and effective assistance to people displaced to the EU+. At the end of November 2023, half of all beneficiaries of temporary protection were either in Germany (1.2 million) or Poland (1 million). For context and to allow comparisons with the inflow of asylum applications, the chart above can also be used to illustrate the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection per capita being hosted in each EU+ country. In Czechia, there were about 34,000 beneficiaries per million inhabitants, which amounts to one beneficiary for every 30 inhabitants, followed by Estonia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland (all at approximately 26,000 beneficiaries per million, or 1 beneficiary for every 38 or 39 inhabitants).