23% more asylum applications in 2023

30,223 people applied for asylum in Switzerland in 2023. This is 23.3% more than in the previous year. The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) also expects around 30,000 asylum applications in 2024, as announced on Thursday. there were 5,712 more asylum applications in 2023 than in 2022. The SEM attributes the increase to three main factors. The number of Turkish asylum seekers doubled across Europe. The number of asylum applications from Turks in Switzerland rose in step with this by 2,000. The SEM also recorded a significant but less pronounced increase in Moroccan and Algerian asylum seekers, who mostly leave their home country for economic reasons. And in July, Switzerland changed its asylum policy towards Afghan girls and women. As a result, 1,800 temporarily admitted women submitted a new application for asylum. The most important country of origin was once again Afghanistan, followed by Turkey, Eritrea, Algeria and Morocco. The SEM dealt with 26,667 asylum ...