Over 2 thousand young Albanians have applied for asylum in EU countries and in Switzerland during 2020, despite the pandemic and the ban on travel that came with it. Even though the numbers of young Albanian asylum-seekers remains high in 2020, they are approximately three times lower than those of a pandemic-free 2019.
The latest reports from Eurostat showed that young (under 18 years of age) Albanian asylum-seekers comprised 12% of the total population from all European countries, with 2,125 new applicants. Close behind are Moldavia at 10% and Serbia with 8%. The greatest numbers of young asylum applicants belong to Turkey at 24%, and Russia at 23%. The population of these countries is much greater than that of Albania, and when comparing the number of asylum-seekers in relation to the country’s population, Albania is firmly in the lead.
The most popular destination for these asylum-seekers is France. As many as 44% of 2020s young Albanian applicants applied in France, followed by 22.6% in Germany, 22.6% in Greece, 6.8% in Belgium, 5.8% in Italy and 3.7% in Sweden.
Young asylum-applicants around the globe
For 2020, Eurostat reports approximately 129.6 thousand first time asylum-applicants in the young demographic. A majority of these applicants were from Asia, at 52% of the total. African citizens comprised 22% of young first time applicants, 13% were from America, and 9% from a European countries outside of the EU. For the first time, Syria had the greatest numbers of first time, young asylum-seekers, with 25% of the total.
First time asylum-seekers that are considered unaccompanied minors amount to almost 13 thousand, according to Eurostat. Asia contributed 15% of new applicants from this demographic, 11% were from Africa, European countries outside of the EU had 2%, and finally the Americas contributed with 1%. The country that saw the most first time applicants was Afghanistan, with 41% of all unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in the EU being from this country.
