Large increase in asylum applicants in the EU sees numbers top 600,000, but only a modest increase for the UK
Asylum applicants in the European Union (EU) surged by forty-four per cent (up 191,000) to reach a peak of 626,000 in 2014, Eurostat reported today.
The UK, however, saw only a modest four per cent increase in asylum claims over 2013.
In particular, Eurostat noted that the total number of Syrian applicants in the EU rose by 72,000, up from 50,000 in 2013 to almost 123,000 in 2014, keeping Syria as the main country of citizenship of asylum applicants.
Afghanistan was the second largest country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU in 2014, with 41,300 applicants. Kosovo, with 37,900 applicants, was third.
In the UK, the top 3 countries of origin were Pakistan, Eritrea and Iran.
Eurostat says that in 2014, the highest number of applicants was registered by far in Germany (202,700 applicants, or 32% of total applicants), followed by Sweden (81,200, or 13%), Italy (64,600, or 10%), France (62,800, or 10%) and Hungary (42,800, or 7%).
With 31,745 applicants, the UK received just over 5% of the claims made in the EU.
According to Eurostat, 45% of first instance decisions made on asylum applications in the EU in 2014 were positive.
See the Eurostat press release here for more.