The total number of asylum applications recorded in the European Union (EU) in 2023 will exceed "well over one million," said Nina Gregori, the head of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) on Tuesday (December 26).

The Malta-based organization has reported that 937,000 asylum applications were registered in the bloc by the end of October – an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year.

The final figure for all of 2023 will not be available until next year.

The highest monthly figure in seven years was registered in October, with around 123,000 applications.

"The world around us is becoming increasingly unstable," Gregori told Germany's newspaper network Funke Media Group, adding that asylum application numbers are not expected to decline anytime soon.

Syrians make up biggest group seeking EU asylum 

Germany is the most important destination country for asylum seekers in the EU, followed by France and Italy, according to the EU asylum agency.

Syrians fleeing violence continue to be the biggest single group seeking asylum in Europe, with 67,000 applications made in the first half of 2023.

That figure represents a 47% increase compared to last year.

The next main nationalities seeking protection in Europe come people from Venezuela, Turkey, Colombia, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Germany sees rise in asylum applications

Nearly 326,000 asylum applications were submitted in Germany by the end of November, marking an increase of 52% compared to the first 11 months of the previous year, as figures from the German Office for Migration and Refugees show.

In Germany this year, almost every third asylum application was filed by a Syrian citizen (27%), followed by people from Afghanistan (17%) and then from Turkey (16%).

The EU has said it intends to counteract irregular migrant arrivals by speeding up repatriations of failed asylum seekers, and by tightening security measures at its external borders, like it has been doing in Slovakia.

With DPA