Over 60,000 unaccompanied children applied for asylum in the EU

Less unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in the European Union last year compared to 2015, but the number still surpasses 60,000. Most of them were boys, with more than a third coming from Afghanistan. Germany was the promise land for more than a half of them, with Italy, Austria and the UK following.

Data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, show that 63,300 asylum seekers applying for international protection in the EU Member States in 2016 were considered to be unaccompanied minors, a number down by about a third compared with 2015 (with almost 96,500 unaccompanied minors registered). About five times more unaccompanied minors applied for international protection than the annual average during the period 2008-2013.

A substantial majority of unaccompanied minors who applied for internation protection in the EU were males (89%) and over two-thirds were aged 16 to 17 (68%, or about 43,300 persons), while those aged 14 to 15 accounted for 21% (around 13,500 persons) and those aged less than 14 for 10% (almost 6,300 persons). More than a third (38%) of asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors in the EU in 2016 were Afghans and about a fifth (19%) Syrians, according to Eurostat.

The highest number of asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors was registered in Germany (almost 36,000, or 57% of all those registered in the EU), followed by Italy (6,000), Austria (3,900), the U.K. (3,200), Bulgaria (2,750), Greece (2,350) and Sweden (2,200).

Among Member States with more than 1,000 asylum seekers considered to be unaccompanied minors in 2016, numbers rose most compared with the previous year in Greece, Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy. In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria.

Most of the asylum applicants considered unaccompanied minors in the EU Member States were Afghans (38%) or Syrians (19%). Of the 24,000 Afghans considered unaccompanied minors in the EU in 2016, nearly two-thirds were registered in Germany (15,000).

Afghans represented the most numerous citizenship of asylum seekers considered unaccompanied minors in half of the EU Member States. Of the 12,000 Syrians seeking protection in the EU Member States and considered unaccompanied minors in 2016, 8 in 10 applied in Germany.

An asylum applicant considered to be an unaccompanied minor is a minor (aged less than 18) who arrives on the territory of the Member States unaccompanied by an adult responsible for him or her whether by law or by the practice of the Member State concerned, and for as long as he or she is not effectively taken into the care of such a person. It includes a minor who is left unaccompanied after he or she has entered the territory of the Member States.