RomecTypeface:> The number of asylum seekers in the EU, Norway and Switzerland decreased slightly in the first half of the year but still stands at over half a million, official figures showed on Monday.
From January to the end of June, the Malta-based European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) recorded a total of 513,000 new applications, a slight fall of 6,000 compared to the first half of 2023. The statistics include figures from all EU countries as well as Norway and Switzerland, which are not part of the union.
The most applications among the 29 countries were again registered in Germany: 124,000, or almost a quarter of the total number. However, the EUAA said that around 30,000 fewer applications were received by German authorities than in the same period last year.
Some 71,000 asylum seekers came from war-torn Syria, a 7 percent increase over the prior year. (DPA)
