Eurostat releases statistics for persons granted protection status in 2013 in the 28 EU Member States
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), reports today that the 28 Member States of the EU granted protection to 135,700 asylum seekers in 2013, compared with 116,200 in 2012.
Of the 135,700 persons granted protection status in 2013, 64,500 persons were granted refugee status, 50,900 subsidiary protection and 20,400 authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons.
According to Eurostat, the largest group of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in 2013 were citizens of Syria.
With 35,800 successful claims, Syrians accounted for 26% of the total number of persons granted protection status.
Afghanistan was second with 16,400 Afghanis granted protection status (12% of the total) and Somalia was third with 9,700 or 7%.
Eurostat reports that the largest group granted protection status in the UK were Iranians (1,890), second were Pakistanis (1,735) and third were Syrians (1,545).
In 2013, the highest number of persons granted protection status was registered in Sweden (26,400), followed by Germany (26,100), France (16,200), Italy (14,500) and the UK (13,400). All together, these five Member States accounted for more than 70% of all those granted protection status in the EU.
The Eurostat press release here has further details.