Overall asylum applications across the EU fell in 2020, but Cyprus is among the member states that received the most applications relative to their population size, the European Asylum Defence Office’s (EASO) annual Asylum Report said on Tuesday.

This year’s report highlighted the resilience of asylum systems in EU+ countries (EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) which managed to sustain their operations despite the pandemic.

It also exposed shortcomings in terms of reception conditions, low returns to countries of origin, resettlement and reduced Dublin transfers.

According to the report 7,440 asylum applications were lodged in Cyprus during 2020, with 3,375 first-instance decisions and 440 final decisions in appeal or review issued.

Refugee status was granted at first instance to 150 people, a similar figure to that recorded in 2019, while subsidiary protection was granted to 1,530, a third more than the previous year.

There were also 1,695 rejections, 14 per cent less than in 2019, with a recognition rate of 50 per cent.

At the end of year, 19,590 applicants were still awaiting a final decision on their case.

On an EU+-wide basis, the report said that some 485,000 applications for international protection were lodged in 2020, a third fewer than in 2019 and the lowest number of yearly applications since 2013.

This fall in numbers was attributed to Covid-19 travel restrictions which limited movements across borders and within countries.

“Despite immense challenges” associated with the pandemic, EU+ countries issued about 534,500 first instance decisions in 2020, which was nearly as many as in 2019, the report said.

Moreover, due to the drop in asylum applications, decisions issued outnumbered applications for the first time since 2017.