8a Unaccompanied children Top MS_standalone

The overall number of unaccompanied children applying for international protection in the EU Member States is distributed unequally among them. Figure 8 shows the total and relative numbers of these children in the various Member States in 2023. Germany topped the ranking in terms of absolute numbers, with 15 270 applicants, followed by the Netherlands (5 800), Austria (4 945) and Bulgaria (3 845). These four Member States together hosted more than 80 % of the total number of unaccompanied children applying for international protection in the EU in 2023 (40 405). However, the order of this ranking looks different when the numbers are relative and correlated to each Member State’s population, with Cyprus at the top, followed by Bulgaria, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece.