Cyprus registered 635 minor asylum seekers in 2025, out of a total of 2,385 first-time applications in the country, according to Eurostat data published on Wednesday on asylum flows to the European Union.
At the European level, as reported by Eurostat, in 2025 158,400 minor asylum seekers were registered for the first time in EU countries, a number that corresponds to 23.7% of the total number of asylum applications. Of these people, 13.3% were unaccompanied minors, which corresponds to 3.8% of all asylum seekers.
Among the Member States, the highest proportions of minors in all first-time asylum seekers are recorded in Austria with 57.3%, Germany with 44.9% and Finland with 31.2%.
Eurostat also notes that the share of unaccompanied minors in all asylum seekers under the age of 18 was highest in Slovenia (78.6%), Latvia (72.9%), Bulgaria (56.2%), the Netherlands (49.8%) and Lithuania (47.1%).
In terms of origin, 39% of minor asylum seekers in the EU came from Asian countries, 27.3% from African countries, 18.2% from countries in the Americas and 13.9% from non-EU European countries.
The main nationalities among minor asylum seekers were Afghans with 16.9%, Syrians with 13% and Venezuelans with 10.7%.
In terms of unaccompanied minors, Afghans are the most populous nationality with 12.3% of the total, followed by Eritreans with 11.6% and Syrians with 11.5%.
In relation to asylum decisions, Eurostat reports that in 2025 a total of 229,485 decisions were issued for applications of minors in the EU. Of these, 201,900 were first-instance decisions and 27,585 final decisions after appeal or review.
A total of 119,435 minor asylum seekers in the EU were granted protection status, either at first instance or following a final decision.
