Asylum in the EU and COVID-19

• Author: Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
• Pages: 463-465

COVID-19 AND MIGRATION / ATLAS OF MIGRATION 2020

463

4. ASYLUM IN THE EU AND COVID-19

Thissectionshowschangesinvolume,origin,anddestination

ofrstasylumapplicationsin2020whencomparedwith

previousyears.Itdoessobycomparingmonthlydataon

rst-timeasylumapplications in2018,2019 and2020.

Whenwecomparetheguresfor2020withtheaverage

of2018and2019,thisenablesustoexaminethesituation

duringthepandemicandthepasttrend,ratherthanonly

thepreviousyear.This highlightshow,in theshadowof

theCOVID-19pandemic, therehasbeen aclear shiftin

asylumapplicationsintheEU-27.

AsFigure13 shows,thenumber ofpeople applyingfor

asylumin EUMember Stateseach year hasuctuated

over the past decade. In 2019 therewere 632 000

applications,which was considerably higher than the

185000applicationsregisteredin2010butsignicantly

lowerthanthemorethanonemillionapplicationslodged

inboth2015and2016.Moreover,since2017thenumber

ofapplicationsandregionoforiginofthepeoplelodging

themhasremained relativelyconsistent exceptonlyfor

anincrease in theproportion of applicationsfrom the

Americasin2019,whichcanbeassociatedwiththecrisis

inVenezuela.

Yettheavailableguresfor2020suggestaquitedistinct

pattern.Despitean increasein rsttimeapplications in

therst two monthsof 2020 comparedwith the past

twoyears,from MarchtoJuly (thelastmonth forwhich

acompletesetofdataforallMemberStatesiscurrently

available),themonthlynumber ofapplicationshas been

considerablylowerthanintheprevioustwoyears.Despite

arisingnumberofmonthlyapplicationsinJuneandJuly,

theguresremainfarbelowthoseof2018and2019.

AsthemapinFigure14shows,thishastranslatedintoa

declineinthenumberofasylumapplicationsinnearlyall

EU-27MemberStatesintherstseven monthsof2020

whencomparedwith theaverage overthesame seven

monthsintheprevioustwoyears.Particularlylargedeclines

canbeseeninGermany(39000fewerapplicationsthan

theaveragereceived inthe previoustwoyears), France

(33000fewer)and Italy(18000 fewer).Butalongside

thisgeneraltrendofdecliningapplicationgures,itshould

benoted thatthe numberof applicationsin Spainand

Romaniain2020 haveactuallybeen abovetheaverage

oftheprevioustwoyears.

Shiftingthefocustocountriesoforiginofpeoplewhohave

appliedforasylumintheEU,Figure15and 16showthe

dierenceinnumberof applicationsreceived inthe rst

sevenmonthsof2020comparedwiththeaverageofthe

sameperiodin theprevious twoyears(countries witha

dierenceoflessthan100applicationsareexcluded).The

numberofapplications in2020 isbelowthe averageof

theprevioustwoyearsforasignicantproportionoforigin

countriesaroundtheworld. Inparticular,therewereless

rsttimeapplicationsbypeoplefromSyria(135000fewer

peoplethantheaverageof2018and2019,areductionof

52),Iraq(1030000fewer,a55reduction)andNigeria

(82000fewer,a58reduction).

Theshiftsinasylumapplicationguresin2020arelikelyto

beduetoarangeoffactors,includingchangingsituationsin

countriesoforiginaswellasdevelopmentsinbordercontrol

FIGURE 13. TRENDOFASYLUMAPPLICATIONSANNUALLYLODGEDFORTHEFIRSTTIMEINALLEUMEMBERSTATESACROSSTHELASTTEN

YEARSBYCONTINENTOFORIGINOFTHEAPPLICANT.THEFIGUREONTOPISEXPRESSEDINTHOUSAND.

NOTE:‘OTHERS’INCLUDESSTATELESS,UNKNOWNANDRECOGNISEDNON-CITIZENS.

SOURCE:ESTAT(MIGR_ASYAPPCTZA)

OtherEuropenon-EU Africa Asia America Oceania

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

1 217K 1 167K

185K 238K 251K

339K

531K

620K 564K 632K

19%

40% 43%

38%

44%

64% 67%

47%

48% 43%

29% 29%

15%

20% 34% 28% 24%

28% 22% 18%

12%

9%

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