EASO EU+ asylum trends 2018 overview

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) has published its 2018 asylum trends overview. Data shows a lower recognition rate of applications (34% compared to 40% in 2017) and pending cases at less than half of the peak recorded in autumn 2016. While overall applications continued to fall in 2018, citizens from Iran, Turkey, and several visa-liberalised countries lodged more applications than in 2017.

For a third consecutive year, 2018 saw a decrease in applications for international protection in the EU+ following the migration crisis of 2015. The 634,700 applications lodged were 10% fewer than in 2017, and similar to the level of 2014. The decrease registered in 2018 follows a significant 44% decline in applications in 2017 over the previous year.

Syria remained the top country of origin for applicants, but with 25% fewer applications than in the previous year. More than one-in-ten of all applicants was a Syrian national, compared to 2015-2016, when Syrians made up more than one-in-four applicants.  Afghanistan and Iraq completed the top three countries of origin in 2018.