In 2023, almost 409,500 people received protection in one of the 27 EU countries. This corresponds to an increase of approximately seven percent compared to the previous year. In Austria, 26,840 people received protection, also an increase. 23,200 people received first instance decisions. This means that they were granted asylum with their first application.
Across the EU, there were approximately 358,200 positive decisions at first instance, plus more than 51,300 positive decisions on appeal. Syrians were the largest group of positive applications at 32 percent, followed by Afghans (18 percent) and Venezuelans (ten percent).
In 43 percent of positive cases, applicants were granted refugee status, 35 percent were granted subsidiary protection and 22 percent were granted humanitarian status.
A 22 percent increase in subsidiary protection
In particular, a 22 percent increase in subsidiary protection was responsible for the increase compared to 2022. Subsidiary protection is granted when refugee protection cannot be granted under the Geneva Convention, but there is a risk of serious harm in the country of origin.
Initially 53 percent positive
Taking all forms of protection together, 53 percent of the decisions at first instance were positive. In addition, there are another 27 percent positive decisions in the second or last instance. There are major differences depending on nationality.
Syrians and Venezuelans were initially granted protection status in 94 percent of cases; for Afghans this was the case in 80 percent of the cases. Syrians and Afghans also had above-average chances of receiving protection status in the second instance.
The statistics published on Friday concern decisions in asylum procedures. About a month ago, Eurostat published the figures on asylum applications.
In 2023, 20 percent more people applied for asylum in the European Union than in 2022. Just over a million non-EU citizens applied for international protection for the first time in an EU country.
Source: Krone
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