Source: EASO Photo: EASO

Brussels, 25 June 2019 – The objective of the EASO Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union is to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation of asylum in the EU (including information on Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland), describing and analysing flows of applicants for international protection, major developments in legislation, jurisprudence, and policies at the EU+ and national level and reporting on the practical functioning of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).

The EASO Annual Report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018 inclusive, but also refers to major recent relevant developments in the year of writing.

Statistics on first and second-instance decisions

In 2018, there were 664 480 applications for international protection in EU+ countries, which marked a decrease for the third consecutive year, this time by 10 %. Approximately 9 % of all applications involved repeated applicants. The number of applications lodged in EU+ was similar to 2014, when 662 165 applications were lodged. It is worth noting that, while the number of applications remained remarkably stable throughout 2018, the relative stability at EU+ level conceals stark variation between Member States and between individual applicant citizenships. Migratory pressure at the EU external borders decreased for the third consecutive year. An upsurge in detections at the Western Mediterranean route occurred (more than doubled), equalling the number of detections atthe Eastern Mediterranean route (some 57 000 each). Syria (since 2013) (13 %), Afghanistan and Iraq (7% each) were the three main countries of origin of applicants in the EU+, together constituting more than a quarter of all applicants in 2018 (27%).