The European Union is projected to receive a stunning ONE MILLION asylum claims by the end of 2023, after the number of applications soared to more than 519,000 in the first six months of the year. Notably, these figures do not include the over four million Ukrainians who have fled to Western Europe since the war began last February.
The number of claims has skyrocketed over the past 24 months, and is approaching the height of the migration crisis of 2015/16, during which applications exceeded a million. This year has seen a 28 percent increase in claims compared to last year, which itself witnessed a 53 percent increase compared to 2021.
European nations do not have the processing capacity to handle the increase in applications, as the case backlog has also increased by 34 percent over the past six months.
Syrian nationals sent the largest number of applications, followed by other nationalities, including Afghanis, Turks, and Russians.
“Together, these parallel trends pose significant challenges to EU+ asylum and reception systems authorities, so much so that by June 2023, the EUAA was offering operational assistance to 13 Member States,” stated a press release by the European Union’s asylum agency.
