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Debate on asylum in the EU
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Around a quarter of all asylum applications in the EU are made by children and young people under 18 years of age. According to Eurostat, more than 192,000 asylum applications came from minors in 2019. More than 14,000 asylum applications came from unaccompanied minors, that is, seven percent of asylum seekers who have not yet reached the age of 18 and around the five percent of all asylum seekers.
Across the EU, the number of applications from under 18s was halved in 2017 after a rapid increase in 2015 and 2016 (almost 380,000), and fell further in 2018. In 2019 it rose again slightly for the first time time (192.145).
In Austria, the decline already occurred from 2015 (31,655) to 2016 (17,365). In 2018, the number of asylum applications by children and young people in Germany was halved again to 6,375. With 5,900 applications from minors, the downward trend in Austria continued in 2019, contrary to the trend in the EU.
In contrast, the proportion of unaccompanied minors in Austria increased by 120 percent. With 860 applications, this number is far from that of 2015, where a historical record was recorded with 8,275 arrivals of unaccompanied minors. Then the number dropped significantly in 2018 and, at just 360, it was lower than it has been in ten years. The EU asylum office EASO explained the increase from 2018 to 2019 a few months ago with the most frequented Balkan route, along which the proportion of children and young people is particularly high.
In addition to Austria, according to the statistics authority, Belgium (plus 63 percent), Greece (plus 26 percent) and Slovenia (plus 21 percent) also saw high increases in unaccompanied minor applications in 2019.
At the EU level, the highest number of asylum seekers classified as unaccompanied minors was registered in Greece last year (3,300 unaccompanied minors or 24 per cent), followed by Germany (2,700 or 19 per cent), Belgium (1,200 or 9 percent) and the Netherlands (1,000 or eight percent).
According to the European Statistical Office, Afghanistan is the main country of origin for asylum seekers in the EU who have not yet reached the age of 18. Across the EU, 30 per cent of all unaccompanied minors came from Afghanistan in 2019, followed by young Syrians and Pakistanis at 10 per cent and minors from Somalia, Guinea and Iraq at 5 per cent each. Of the 1,400 Syrians who sought protection in EU countries in 2019 and were classified as unaccompanied minors, according to Eurostat, almost two-thirds applied for asylum in Greece, Germany or the Netherlands (300 people each).
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