EU asylum applications fall by 32%

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has announced that the number of asylum applications in the European Union fell in 2020 by an average of 32 per cent, compared with the previous year, Anadolu has reported. The EASO added in its 2021 asylum report that EU countries received 485,000 asylum applications last year, the lowest figure since 2013.

The office explained that asylum applications were concentrated in three European countries: Germany, France and Spain. Germany received 112,000 asylum applications in 2020, followed by France with 93,000 and Spain with 89,000.

The report pointed out that one of the main reasons for the decline in asylum applications is the coronavirus epidemic and the measures imposed to counter it.

The report emphasised that Syrians ranked first among the refugees who seek asylum in EU countries, with 70,000 applications. They are followed by Afghans with 50,000 applications, and Venezuelans with 31,000.

Turkey receives most refugees. It currently hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees.

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