In past year, much fewer people in European Union have applied for asylum than in prior year. In total re were 728,470 asylum applications 2017 in EU and thus 44% less than 2016, European Asylum Support Office (EASO) announced. Preliminary data from first months of this year indicate that re are 2018 even fewer applications: according to authority, an average of 50,000 asylum applications per month have been submitted this year.

In addition, EASO authorities said that fewer people were able to have refugee status. Two years ago, 55 percent of asylum seekers were recognized, 2017 only 50 percent. The cases in which migrants received subsidiary protection were also slightly decreased. On or hand, proportion of those to whom authorities granted humanitarian protection rose from eight to 15 per cent.

The figures of EASO also show that more and more migrants are calling for first asylum decision. Thus, between 2016 and 2017, number of procedures in which a decision was taken in second or highest instance by end of year was doubled.

Germany remains main target in EU

According to EASO, Germany remained main target for asylum seekers in EU despite strong decline. In this case, authorities 2017 a total of 222,560 applications – compared to previous year, this is a 70 percent decline. Thus, 2017 almost one third of asylum seekers in EU (including Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland) submitted application in Germany. 2016, according to EASO, it was still more than half, namely 58 percent.

In or countries, however, number of applications increased. Italy recorded highest number of asylum applications after Germany: it rose by five percent to 128,850 in 2017 compared to previous year. In France, 99,330 applications were registered, 18 percent more than 2016. In Greece, number of applications increased by 15 percent to 58,650.

The highest number of asylum seekers in Romania increased by 156 percent to 4,815. This is followed by Spain with an increase of 98 percent to 31,120 applications. In contrast, Austria registered a similar decline as Germany: number of applications dropped by 42 percent to 24,715.

Date Of Update: 19 June 2018, 12:02