Fewer applications

Asylum: Recognition rate increased in the previous year

(Bild: APA/ROBERT JAEGER)

The recognition rate for asylum applications increased in the previous year. Almost exactly 26,500 people received a protection title (asylum, subsidiary protection, etc.) in Austria in 2023. This is according to the official full-year statistics now available from the Ministry of the Interior.

The total number of asylum applications was 58,698 - as recently announced by the ministry in advance - which corresponds to a decrease of 48% compared to 2022. Furthermore, by no means all of the refugees registered in Austria actually wanted to stay here. This can be seen from the fact that around 31,000 people have had their procedures expire. As a rule, these are refugees who had another destination country and traveled on to it.

Significantly more men than women among asylum seekers
In terms of gender, significantly more men came to Austria - just under 32,000 compared to almost 7,000 women, which corresponds to 76 percent. Around 19,800 asylum seekers were minors, of which around 5,100 were unaccompanied. Refugees from Afghanistan in particular fall into this group. More than half of all applicants fall into the 18 to 35 age group.

The top country of origin is Syria, followed by Afghanistan and Turkey. Refugees from Syria have the best chances of being granted asylum, with a recognition rate of 61 percent.

Women are outnumbered by asylum applicants and those entitled to asylum.(Bild: APA/ROBERT JAEGER)

78,800 people in basic care
At the beginning of the year, there were 78,800 people in basic welfare support. This is significantly fewer than at the same time in the previous year, when there were almost 93,000. By far the largest group in basic welfare support are 40,000 displaced persons from Ukraine.