Cyprus recorded 140 first-time asylum applicants and 110 subsequent applicants in January 2026, according to monthly asylum data published by Eurostat on Wednesday.

For the same month at European Union level, 51,160 third-country nationals submitted a first-time application for international protection, marking a 23% decrease compared with January 2025 (66,745 applications), but a 7% increase compared with December 2025 (47,650).

At the same time, 9,500 subsequent asylum applicants were recorded, a figure up 9% year-on-year and 3% month-on-month.

The largest group of first-time asylum applicants came from Venezuela, with 7,300 applications, followed by Afghanistan (4,790), Bangladesh (2,940) and Egypt (2,280).

Spain (10,860), Italy (10,660), France (9,290) and Germany (7,645) received the highest number of first-time asylum applications, together accounting for 75% of all applications in the European Union.

In per capita terms, the EU average stood at 11.4 first-time asylum applicants per 100,000 inhabitants. The highest rates were recorded in Greece (46.7), followed by Spain (22.1) and Ireland (20.1).

A total of 1,220 unaccompanied minors submitted a first-time asylum application in the EU in January 2026. The largest groups came from Egypt (270), Somalia (175), Venezuela (155), Afghanistan (140) and Sudan (70).

The countries receiving the highest number of applications from unaccompanied minors were Greece (375), Germany (200), Spain (170), the Netherlands (135) and France (110). Regarding Cyprus, Eurostat notes that it received 10 applications from unaccompanied minors.