In 2019, 13,800 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in the EU. Nearly a third of these refugees under the age of 18 who ended up in an EU country without a family or other companion came from Afghanistan, and the European Statistical Office reports Eurostat.
Compared to 2018, the number of unaccompanied minors seeking protected status in the EU decreased by 20 percent. It mainly concerns boys (85 percent), and two-thirds are 16 or 17 years old.
There were also 3,100 applications from children ages 14 and 15 last year, while 1,500 single asylum seekers (11 percent) were under 14.
A quarter of the asylum applications took place in Greece, but in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands (1000 applications or 8 percent) unaccompanied minors sought international protection.
In addition to Afghans, it mainly concerned children from Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Guinea and Iraq.
In the peak year of 2015, 92,000 unaccompanied asylum children were registered in the 27 EU countries.