The highest number of registered first-time applicants for asylum relative to the population of EU member states in 2018 was recorded in Cyprus, ahead of Greece, Malta and Luxembourg, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical arm.

Cyprus had 8,805 first-time applicants per million population, Greece 6,051, Malta 4,276 and Luxembourg 3,694.

The lowest numbers were recorded in Slovakia (28 applicants per million population), Poland (63), Hungary (65), Estonia (68) and Latvia (91).

In the EU as a whole, there were 1,133 first-time asylum applicants per million population.

Last year’s number of applicants was down by 11% compared with 2017 (654,600) and less than half of the number recorded in the peak year 2015 when 1,256,600 first-time asylum applicants were registered. The number of asylum applicants in 2018 was comparable to the level recorded in 2014, before the peaks of 2015 and 2016.

Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi continued to be the main citizenships of people seeking international protection in EU states in 2018, together accounting for almost 30% of all first-time applicants.

This has been the case since 2013. Of the 80,900 Syrians who applied for asylum for the first-time in the EU in 2018, more than half were registered in Germany (44,200, or 55%). Syrian was the main citizenship of asylum seekers in eight EU states.

With 41,000 first-time applicants (or 7% of the EU total) in 2018, Afghan was the second main citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU states. Almost 29% of Afghans applied in Greece (11,800). Afghan was the main citizenship of asylum seekers in five EU s.

Iraqi (7% of the total number of first-time applicants) was the third main citizenship of asylum seekers in EU states. Of the 39,600 Iraqis seeking asylum protection for the first-time in the EU in 2018, more than 41% applied in Germany (16,300). Iraqi was the main citizenship of asylum seekers in two EU states.

At the end of 2018, 878,600 applications for international protection in EU states were still under consideration by national authorities (excluding Finland, as data not available).

At the end of 2017, this figure was slightly higher (927,000). Germany had the largest share of applications pending in the EU at the end of 2018 (384,800, or 44% of the EU total), ahead of Italy (103,000, or 12%), Spain (78,700, or 9%) and Greece (76,300, or 9%).