More than 9,000 Afghans file asylum applications in EU in a month

The European Census Bureau has reported that over the past month, more than 9,000 Afghan citizens have applied for asylum applications in the EU member states, a record-high number of asylum applications by any single country, according to Khaama Press.

According to the European Census Bureau, asylum interests in the EU member states at the beginning of the current year have increased by 40 per cent compared to last year.

While releasing the monthly report on Thursday, the European Census Bureau said that 76,500 people have submitted asylum applications to the EU in February alone, indicating a 40 per cent increase compared to that of last year.

The EU has added that based on the available statistics, the number of initial asylum requests in February last year was 54,370.

It is reported that Syrians and Afghans are the largest groups of asylum seekers in the EU member states over the past years.

The statistics indicated that 77 per cent of the asylum application have been recorded in Spain, Germany, France and Italy respectively. Germany alone received more than 25,000 applications in February, making it the largest number of asylum requests in the country, as per Khaama Press.

According to European Union statistics, among the new asylum seekers, 2,745 are unaccompanied minors of which 1,025 were Afghan citizens.