Around 90,000 unaccompanied minors among asylum seekers has arrived in the EU in 2015, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.  Slightly more than half of them are Afghans.

In 2015, the number of unaccompanied minors who applied  for international protection in the Member States of the European Union (EU) reached 88,300, stated Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

The vast majority of unaccompanied minors were male (91%). Around half (51%) of asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors in the EU in 2015 were Afghans.

Over half of them were aged between 16 and  17 (57%, or 50,500 persons), while 25,800 children were  aged 14 to 15, namely 29%. Those aged less than 14 for 13% (11,800 persons).

The Phenomenon of Unaccompanied Minors in EU

About a third of the 1,26 million of those who applied for asylum for the first-time in the EU last year was made up of minors.

Unaccompanied minor are those asylum applicants ,aged less than 18, who arrived on the territory of an EU member State without an adult responsible for them. Such definition includes also minors left unaccompanied after they have entered the territory of the Member States.

They are considered so for as long as they are not effectively taken into the care of a person defined responsible for them, whether by law or by the practice of the Member State concerned.

From 2008 to 2013, their number has always stood between 11,000 and 13,000. In 2014 this figure almost doubled to reach slightly more than 23,000 persons, then, in 2015, it nearly quadrupled.

Sweden Welcomed 35,300 Unaccompanied Minors, 4 out of 10

In 2015, the EU Member States that welcomed the highest number of unaccompanied minors were Sweden (with almost 35,300 unaccompanied minors, or 40% of all those registered in the EU Member States), followed by Germany (14,400, or 16%), Hungary (8,800, or 10%) and Austria (8,300, or 9%).

Together these four Member States received  three-quarters of all unaccompanied minors applying for asylum in the EU last year.

Italy Has One of the Largest share of Unaccompanied Minors Among young asylum seekers

Italy  and Sweden recorded the largest shares of unaccompanied minors among all young asylum applicants in 2015.

In Italy, 56.6% of all asylum applicants aged less than 18 were unaccompanied in 2015. It was slightly smaller in Sweden (where it reached 50.1%), followed by the United Kingdom (38.5%), the Netherlands (36.5%), Denmark (33.7%), Finland (33.2%) and Bulgaria (33.1%).

In the EU as whole, almost a quarter (23.0%) of all asylum applicants aged less than 18 was unaccompanied minors.

Afghanistan is the Country of Origin for 1 unaccompanied minor out of 2

Last year, 51% of the total numbers of unaccompanied minors applying for asylum in the EU Member States were Afghans .

In particular, 23,400 out of the 45 300 Afghan unaccompanied minors in the EU in 2015 were registered in Sweden, more than half of them.  In fifteen EU Member States, the majority of unaccompanied minors  applying for asylum were Afghans.

The second main country of origin of unaccompanied minors applying for international protection in the EU countries was Syria (16%). Of the 14 300 Syrians unaccompanied minors in 2015, 7 in 10 applied in either Germany (4,000)or Sweden (3,800)or Hungary (2,200).

Source: Eurostat