Total asylum applications recorded in 2024 amounted to 2,849, compared to 3,083 in 2023, with the majority coming from Senegal (15%), Gambia (14%), and Colombia (9%), as outlined in the Annual Report on the Asylum Situation in the European Union.
Of these applications, 785 cases were denied, marking a 500% increase from 2023, which saw only 131 rejections.
On World Refugee Day, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) presents a European overview of this form of international protection in Europe, coinciding with the adoption of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.
“Although the number of applications dropped 11% in 2024, EU+ countries [European Union, Norway, and Switzerland] received over one million international protection requests for the second consecutive year,” the annual report notes.
“Additionally, 4.4 million displaced individuals from Ukraine were under temporary protection in Europe, resulting in continued pressure on national asylum and reception systems,” the authors state.
Furthermore, “nearly four-fifths of all applications in EU+ countries were received by only five nations: Germany (237,000 applications), Spain (166,000), Italy (159,000), France (159,000), and Greece (74,000),” with Portugal ranking 18th in the EU+.
Analyzing asylum applications relative to population size, “Cyprus and Greece received the highest number of applications per capita,” with Portugal ranking in the lower half of the chart.
“The top five nationalities among international protection applicants in EU+ countries remained the same as in 2023: Syrians (151,000 applications), Afghans (87,000), Venezuelans (74,000), Turks (56,000), and Colombians (52,000),” the report further states.
