(13 February 2019) – New figures published today by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) show for a third consecutive year that asylum applications in the EU continue to decrease.
In 2018, 634,700 asylum applications were recorded in EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland, a 10% decrease compared to 2017 and similar to the level of the pre-crisis year 2014.
EASO’s data also show that the number of pending first instance asylum cases has decreased by almost 50% when compared to its peak in autumn 2016.
Syria remained the top country of origin for applicants, but with 25% fewer applications than in the previous year. Afghanistan and Iraq completed the top three countries of origin in 2018.