Over one million applications for asylum will be made in Europe this year, extrapolations from the last figures suggest, as Syrians and Afghans continue to overwhelmingly dominate arrivals.
Statistics and analysis by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), a body which strives to “bringing greater convergence to asylum and reception practices across the EU”, clearly show the bloc and its ‘EU+’ area neighbours Norway and Switzerland will welcome over one million asylum applications for the second year running.
Applications in the first six months of 2024 are nearly identical to 2023 at 512,989, the latest figures show. Trends for the past nine years clearly show applications for asylum show a bias towards the second six months of the year, making 2024 a million-plus year all but certain, in line with the 1,143,437 received in 2023.
While the vast majority of applications will pertain to new arrivals in Europe, a fraction — around nine per cent, according to EUAA — are from repeat-applicants, trying again after a previous unsuccessful bid.
In all, the level of arrivals of 2024 and 2023 are the highest since the Europe migrant crisis of 2015-16, when Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany unilaterally declared the continent open. While that migrant crisis was urgent news daily as European nations struggled to handle the sheet volume of arrivals, the Union has become more adept to papering over those cracks in the years since, making the massive numbers of arrivals today something more akin to a silent migrant crisis, often hidden from the front pages.
This is a situation that has been rumbling on for some years, now. Breitbart News reported in 2022 when Europe saw the largest number of arrivals that year since the 2016 crisis, which was also the first year Ukrainian refugees started to arrive in significant numbers. That continues to impact today, and as stated by the EUAA: “the surge in asylum applications and the number of displaced persons from Ukraine – are exerting immense strain on the EU+ asylum and reception systems. National authorities are being pushed to their limits as they strive to accommodate and safeguard those in need.”
“Syrians continued to lodge by far the most applications”, the EUAA noted, making up for 14 per cent of all applications. “Afghans continued to be the second largest nationality group” they stated. As for where migrants go — as reflected by where applications are made — Germany continues to keep its position at the head of the pack. It took 124,000 applications int he first six months of the year, around a quarter of all received in Europe.
