Latest Asylum Trends: Monthly Overview

In February 2026, EU+ countries received around 57,000 applications for international protection, marking the lowest monthly level since the COVID-19 period. This confirms a sustained downward trend since late 2024.

The decline is driven mainly, but not entirely, by a sharp drop in Syrian applications, following political developments after December 2024. Syrians lodged only 1,900 applications in February 2026, significantly reducing overall EU+ totals.

The largest groups in February 2026 were:

• Afghans (7,300 applications),

• Venezuelans (7,000),

• Bangladeshis (3,600),

• Turks (2,000) and

• Egyptians (2,000).

Afghan nationals remain the largest group partly due to repeated applications by individuals already present in the EU+, especially following legal and policy developments confirming protection needs for Afghan women.

Despite some fluctuations in the monthly trend, Venezuelan applications are still high compared to other nationalities. They comprise mostly first-time applications, reflecting continued arrivals linked to conditions in Venezuela and visa-free access to EU+ countries, particularly Spain.

In February 2026, applications were concentrated in a few countries.

• Italy, France and Spain each received around 19%.

• Germany received around 18%.

Together, these four countries accounted for 75% of all applications.

When adjusted for population size:

• Greece recorded the highest level (379 applications per million inhabitants) and

• Cyprus recorded the second highest level (312 applications per million inhabitants).

• Spain, Italy and Ireland were also above the EU+ level.

The EU+ rate was 123 applications per million.

In February 2026, around 31% of first instance decisions granted refugee status or subsidiary protection.

Yes, recognition rates differ significantly. During the three months leading up to February 2026, among the top nationalities:

• recognition rates were high for Haitians (90%), Malians (89%), Sudanese (70%) and Afghans (74%) and

• very low for Bangladeshis (2–5%), Egyptians (3%) and Moroccans (4%).

At the end of February 2026 around 822,000 cases were pending at first instance.

Around 1.2 million cases were pending across all instances (January 2026, latest data).

This represents a very high caseload for EU+ asylum systems, comparable to the refugee crisis of 2015–2016.

The largest volumes of pending cases at the end of February 2026 were associated with:

• Venezuelans (123,000),

• Syrians (90,000),

• Colombians (67,000) and

• Bangladeshis (40,000).

These groups together account for a large share of the backlog.

At present, applications from Iranian nationals remain relatively low and represent a small share of total EU+ asylum applications. In February 2026, Iranian nationals lodged just over 670 applications, indicating no significant increase.

However, the situation remains uncertain and subject to change. Previous increases—such as those observed following government crackdowns in 2022–2023—were gradual and limited in scale.

Given Iran’s large population (around 90 million), even a small proportion seeking protection could result in significant increases in applications over a short period of time. At present, however, Iranian applications remain a marginal component of the EU+ caseload.