Number of new asylum seekers in OECD countries hits record

The number of new asylum seekers applying to stay in countries belonging to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group hit a new record in 2024, rising by 13% compared to the previous year, according to a report released on Monday, reported dpa.

There were about 3 million new applications registered in 2024, said the OECD's annual report on migration.

The surge was driven by the United States, but increases were also recorded in Canada and the United Kingdom, while in the rest of the OECD the number of applications decreased.

The OECD comprises 38 countries, including almost all European Union member states as well as the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.

More than half of the 3 million asylum applications in the OECD were registered in the United States in 2024. Top origin countries of applicants included Venezuela, Colombia, Syria, Afghanistan and India, the report said.

In 2024, more than 160 million people living in OECD countries were foreign-born, the report said, pointing out that since 2014, the share of foreign-born residents has risen from 9.1% to 11.5%.

When it came to tracking irregular migration, the report said that detections of irregular border crossings at EU borders decreased by 37% in 2024, as did Border Patrol encounters in the US (down by 48%), while detections of attempts to enter the UK irregularly increased by 19%.

At the same time, returns from the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States increased steadily between 2021 and 2024.

According to the report, among the OECD countries surveyed this gap was greater only in Turkey and the Netherlands.

Among highly skilled migrants, the gap was even more pronounced in Germany last year, with a difference of around 15 percentage points compared to native-born workers.