Asylum and migration in the EU: facts and figures
Find out recent data about the number of people coming to the EU and the asylum applications that EU countries are processing.
Migration in Europe: key numbers in 2024
Irregular border crossings falling in 2024
Most people arrive in Europe for work- or family-related reasons. Those who enter the EU irregularly make up a small fraction of all migrants: in 2024, about 239,000 irregular border crossings were detected by Frontex, the EU’s border and coast guard agency. This marks a 38% drop compared to the previous year.
Almost one million asylum seekers
Seeking asylum is another reason why people may choose to come to Europe, with 2024 seeing almost one million applications across the EU. The number of recognised refugees in Europe stood at less than 10% of the entire world’s refugee population at the end of 2021. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw this number rise to around 20%.
Non-EU citizens are 6.4% of EU population
As of 2024, non-EU citizens make up 6.4% of the total population. Out of the 449.3 million EU inhabitants in 2024, 28.9 million were non-EU citizens. There are countries outside the EU, such as Switzerland, Australia and Iceland, that have a much larger proportion of foreign-born residents.
The return of non-EU citizens without permission to stay is a priority when it comes to migration management at EU and national level.
Definitions: what are migrants, asylum seekers and refugees?
What is a migrant?
Migrants are people who move from their usual home, either within their own country or to another country, for a short or long time, and for different reasons. While there is no single internationally accepted definition, the term is normally used to cover people in a wide range of situations.
What is an asylum seeker?
Asylum seekers are people with a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, politics or membership of a particular social group who seek safety elsewhere. Their application for international protection either has not yet been processed, or they may not yet have formally requested asylum but they intend to do so. They receive a refugee status or a different form of international protection only once a positive decision has been made by national authorities on their asylum application.
What is a refugee?
Refugees are people who have had their asylum application accepted and have been officially recognised in their host country.
Data on asylum seekers in the EU
In 2024, there were 996,805 asylum applications – 13.1% fewer than in 2023.
Most applicants request asylum for the first time
The number of first-time asylum applicants in the EU in 2024 accounted for the majority of asylum applications, standing at 911,960. There were 83,375 subsequent asylum applicants recorded across the EU countries in 2024.
A first-time applicant for international protection is a person who lodged an application for asylum for the first time in a given EU country. This excludes repeat applicants in that country.
First-time applicants by EU country
The country that registered the most first-time applicants in 2024 was Germany, which accounted for 25.2% of all first-time asylum applicants in the EU. It was followed by Spain (18%), Italy (16.6%), France (14.3%) and Greece (7.6%). These five EU countries together accounted for 82% of all first-time asylum applicants in the EU last year.
The lowest numbers of first-time asylum applicants were registered in Hungary (25 applicants), Slovakia (135), Lithuania (295) and Malta (440).
The countries that saw the largest relative increases of first-time applicants in 2024 compared to the previous year were Poland (87.1%) and Ireland (39.4%). The largest decreases were observed in Romania (77.1%), Estonia (66.6%), Slovakia (63.5%), Austria (61.1%) and Latvia (50.8%).
Country of origin of asylum seekers
Syrians have been the main group of people to apply for asylum in the EU since 2013.
In 2024, Syrians, Venezuelans, Afghans, Colombians and Turks lodged the most applications for asylum, totalling a combined share of 42.8% of all first-time asylum applicants. Syrians lodged 147,965 first-time applications, followed by Venezuelans with 72,775 applications, and Afghans with 72,155 applications. There were 50,330 applicants from Colombia and 46,835 from Türkiye.
Data on refugees in the EU
Refugees make up 1.7% of the EU’s total population.
In 2024, a total of 939,983 asylum decisions were issued in the EU. Decisions made at first instance resulted in 387,635 people being granted protection status, while another 50,265 people received a protection status after an appeal or review. Overall, EU countries granted protection status to 437 900 asylum seekers in 2024, up 6.9% compared with 2023.
Germany approved the highest number of protection requests in 2024 (34.4% of the EU total), followed by France (14.9%) and Spain (11.6%). The largest group who obtained protection status in the EU were Syrians (32.3%), followed by Afghans (16.5%) and Venezuelans (7.9%). Ukrainians made up 3.2%.
Migrants from Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has resulted in millions of people being forced to flee their homes. An estimated 3.7 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine, while around 6.9 million have sought refuge in Europe and beyond, according to UNHCR, the United Nations' refugee agency. Germany and Poland have welcomed the largest number of Ukrainian refugees since February 2022.
Since 4 March 2022, Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion were granted temporary protection after the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive. This is an exceptional measure in the event of a mass influx or imminent mass influx of displaced people from non-EU countries who are unable to return to their country of origin.
Irregular border crossings into the EU
In 2015 and 2016, at the peak of the migration crisis, more than 2.3 million irregular crossings were detected. The total number of illegal crossings at the EU’s external borders in 2024 was just over 239,000 - a 38% drop from the previous year. This is the lowest level since 2021, when migration was still affected by the COVID pandemic.
While the Central Mediterranean, Western Balkan, and Eastern Mediterranean routes were still the top three migratory routes into the EU, the decrease in numbers was mainly due to a 59% decrease in arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route compared to 2023, and a 78% fall in detections on the Western Balkan route.
EU funding for migration
Migration has been an EU priority for years. Several measures have been taken to manage migration flows as well as to improve the asylum system.
The EU significantly increased its funding for migration, asylum and integration policies in the wake of the increased inflow of asylum seekers in 2015. €22.7 billion is reserved for migration and border management in the EU’s budget for 2021-2027, compared with €10 billion for migration and asylum in 2014-2020.
Refugees around the world
Around the world, the number of forcibly displaced people fleeing persecution, conflict and violence has reached 123.2 million. Children account for 40% of those forcibly displaced – around 49 million.
There were 42.7 million refugees worldwide in 2024. Some 69% of global refugees come from five countries: Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and South Sudan. An average of 337,800 children are born as refugees every year.
Iran, Türkiye, Colombia, Germany and Uganda hosted over one-third (37%) of the world’s refugees and other people in need of international protection. Some 73% of the world’s refugee population are hosted in low- and middle-income countries.
