Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

In April 2023, 72,630 asylum-seekers (from outside the European Union) applied for international protection in EU countries for the first time. Compared to April 2022 (54,350), this is an increase of 34%. There were also 5,310 later applicants, down 5% compared to April 2022 (5,610).
This information comes from monthly asylum data published by Eurostat, the European statistical office.
   Most of the first-time asylum seekers were Syrians and Afghans
As in previous months, in April 2023, the largest group of asylum seekers was Syrians (9,420 applicants for the first time). They were followed by Afghans (7405), ahead of Venezuelans (5785), Colombians (4770) and Turks (4640).
In the aftermath of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, there was a significant increase in the number of Ukrainian asylum seekers for the first time (from 2,105 in February 2022 to 12,190 in March 2022), but the numbers dropped monthly to 895 in April 2023. This is also because people fleeing Ukraine They benefit from temporary protection.
In April 2023, the number of asylum seekers granted Russian citizenship ranked 12th among all nationalities, with 1,720 applications.
Germany, Spain, France and Italy accounted for 72% of first-time asylum seekers
In April 2023, Germany (20,910), Spain (12,910), France (1,060) and Italy (8,175) received the largest number of first-time asylum seekers, accounting for three quarters (72%) of all applicants. First time applicants in the European Union.
In total in the European Union, there were 162 first-time asylum seekers, per million people, in April 2023.
Compared to the population of each EU country (as of January 1, 2023), nine member states had a rate higher than the overall EU share. The lowest rate was observed in Hungary (0.4).
2,625 unaccompanied minors apply for asylum
In April 2023, 2,625 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the European Union, most of them from Afghanistan (895) and Syria (685).
The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in April 2023 was Germany (1,105), ahead of the Netherlands (340) and Austria (285).