Nigerians rank second in asylum applications in south Cyprus

Cyprus said it received 13,818 asylum applications by July this year compared to 7,006 the same period last year during which a total of 13,325 had been submitted.

According to a report by Philenews on Wednesday, this shows that the flow of migrants coming to Cyprus this year has basically doubled (97% increase).

Specifically, over 1500 applications are received every month and – despite the recorded increased returns – arrivals cannot be covered with the problem getting bigger and bigger.

Today, 4.6% of the island’s population are asylum seekers with the majority coming from countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

As for this year, the first country of migrants’ origin is Congo compared to Syria last year. Specifically, 2,283 people from Congo applied for asylum this year, while last year the number was 1,723.

Nigeria comes second this year with 2,234 applications, third is Syria with 2,186 and is followed by Pakistan with 1,444. Bangladesh follows with 982 applications, Afghanistan with 843 , Somalia with 694, Cameroon with 653, India with 413, Nepal with 292 and other countries with 1,794.

Last year, the first country of origin was Syria with 23% of all applications, followed by Congo with 1723 applications and Nigeria with 1555.

In-Cyprus