Ireland received the largest per capita number of asylum seekers of any other EU country in the month of May – even more than Mediterranean states like Greece, Spain and Cyprus.
According to the latest data released by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), Ireland received a total of 2,010 asylum seekers in May despite having a population of 5.2 million. This represents 1 asylum seeker for every 2,600 inhabitants, or 381 asylum seekers per million – dramatically more than the EU+ average of 184 per million. (EU+ refers to all 27 EU member states, plus Norway and Switzerland).
By comparison, Greece received only 340 asylum applications per million, while Spain received 339 and Cyprus received 310.
Germany received just 222 applications per million inhabitants, or just 1 application per 4,500 inhabitants.
The single lowest number of asylum seekers received was by Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, which received zero.
According to the EU’s asylum body, Ireland saw “near-record levels” of asylum applications in May due to “increased numbers” of Palestinians, as well as Jordanians (Jordan being a country that neighbours Palestine), and Nigerians.
As regards temporary protection applicants from Ukraine, Ireland had 105,625 Ukrainians as of May.
This represents 20,037 per million inhabitants – more than double the EU+ average of 9,503 per million.
At 20,037, Ireland had more Ukrainians per million inhabitants than Germany (15,800), France (908), Denmark (5,567), Greece (2,858), Sweden (3,816) and more. The only EU+ countries that had taken more Ukrainians than Ireland per capita were 6 Eastern European states geographically close to Ukraine (Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia), and Cyprus.
Ireland had the highest number of Ukrainians per capita of any other Western European country by a significant margin.
Recently the European Commission proposed to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing Ukraine for another year, from March 5th 2025 to March 4th 2026.