First-time asylum applications in EU countries fell to 47,100 in March 2026, down 19% from a year earlier.
The figure was 1% higher than in February 2026, when 46,420 first-time applicants were recorded, Eurostat reported on Tuesday.
A further 10,075 people lodged repeat asylum applications in March — known as subsequent applications, where a person applies again after a previous application — up 28% from March 2025 and 11% from February 2026.
Venezuelans were the largest group of first-time applicants in March, with 6,880 people, followed by Afghans (4,180), Bangladeshis (3,195) and Syrians (1,690).
Italy (10,900) and Spain (10,840) received the highest numbers of first-time applicants, followed by France (8,895) and Germany (6,980).
There were 10.5 first-time applicants per 100,000 people across the EU in March, with the highest rates recorded in Greece (23.2), Spain (22.1) and Cyprus (19.0), using population data as of 1 January 2025.
Unaccompanied minors and asylum decisions
A total of 1,035 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU in March, Eurostat reported.
The highest numbers of those unaccompanied minors came from Somalia (260), Venezuela (165), Afghanistan (130), Sudan (65) and Syria (50).
Germany received the most asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in March (280), followed by the Netherlands (190), Spain (185), France (105) and Greece (80).
In the first quarter of 2026, EU countries issued 205,945 first-instance asylum decisions, up 4% from the same period a year earlier, with 41% of those decisions positive.
EU countries granted protection status at first instance to 84,925 asylum seekers in the first quarter, up 28% year-on-year, Eurostat reported, with 53% receiving refugee status, 24% subsidiary protection and 23% humanitarian status.
