The European Union Agency for Asylum reported on Monday that 45,000 Afghans have applied for asylum in European countries in the first half of 2024.

According to the report, Afghans were the second largest group of asylum seekers in Europe after Syrians.

The organisation's report, published on Monday, said that 513,000 people had applied for asylum in European countries till the end of July.

The EU refugee agency wrote that this figure was stable compared to the first six months of 2023, but there were some changes at the local level.

During this period, 71,000 Syrian citizens have applied for asylum in various European countries, as the largest group of asylum seekers.

According to the report, Afghans submitted the most asylum applications to Germany, Greece, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and other countries, respectively.

According to the report, the number of Afghans seeking asylum in European countries has decreased by 18% compared to the same period in 2023.

The report also emphasised that the acceptance rate of Afghans in EU member states was about 65 percent.

Recently, immigration policies in many European countries have been tightened in their refusal to accept migrants with the aim of reducing illegal arrivals.