Shorouk Express
In October 2024, 86,945 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries, a 24% decrease compared with October 2023 (114,890).
There were also 7,475 subsequent applicants, representing an 11% increase compared with October 2023 (6 725).
This information comes from the monthly asylum data published by Eurostat.
Source dataset: migr_asyappctzm
Syrians remain the largest group of asylum seekers
In October 2024, Syrians remained the largest group of people seeking asylum (15,815 first-time applicants), followed by Venezuelans (7,305), Afghans (5,870) and Turks (4,640).
Germany, Spain, Italy and France received 73% of first-time applicants
Germany (20,565), Spain (15,780), Italy (13,715) and France (13,135) continued to receive the highest number of first-time asylum applicants, accounting for 73% of all first-time applicants in the EU.
The EU total rate of first-time asylum applicants in October 2024 was 19.4 per hundred thousand people. Compared with the population of each EU country (on 1 January 2024), the highest rates of first-time applicants were recorded in Greece (79.4), ahead of Cyprus (51.3).
3 295 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum
Source dataset: migr_asyumactm
A total of 3,295 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU, with most of them coming from Syria (1 095) and Afghanistan (450).
The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors was Germany (1 010), followed by Greece (445), Spain (340), the Netherlands (325) and Belgium (295).
For more information
Statistics Explained article on asylum applications – monthly statistics
Statistics Explained article on asylum applications – annual statistics
Statistics Explained article on asylum decisions – quarterly statistics
Statistics Explained article on asylum decisions – annual statistics
Thematic section on migration and asylum statistics
Database on asylum statistics
Migration and asylum in Europe – 2024 edition
Methodological notes
Cyprus: due to temporary derogations, data on subsequent applicants are not available until December 2023, therefore Cyprus is not included in the total calculated until December 2023.
Poland: Data for unaccompanied minors are not available.
