In 2022, 881,220 asylum seekers applied for international protection in the EU for the first timeup 64% compared to 2021, say Eurostat figures released today.

According to Eurostat, in 2022 the number of asylum seekers in the EU was the highest recorded since 2015-2016 (the increase was then attributed to the large number of refugees from Syria).

Germany, France, Spain and Austria are the main destination countries for EU asylum seekers in 2022.

In 2022, 384,245 asylum seekers were granted protection status in the EU, of which 44% received refugee status, 31% subsidiary protection and 25% humanitarian status.

Moreover, according to Eurostat, at the end of April 2023, almost 4 million non-EU citizens who had left Ukraine benefited from the temporary protection status in the EU.

The EU member states hosting the largest number of Ukrainian citizens it is germany (28% of the total), Poland (25%) and the Czech Republic (8%).

On average in the EU the number of Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection in relation to the population of the EU was equal to 8.9 per 1,000 inhabitants at the end of April 2023. The highest ratios of Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection in relation to the population per thousand inhabitants, recorded in the Czech Republic (31.6), Estonia (26.4), Poland (26.4), Lithuania (24.5), Bulgaria (22.7) and Latvia (21.2).

In April 2023, the monthly number of decisions granting temporary protection (70,375) fell to the lowest level since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.