Brussels, 29/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 29 March, the day after the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) revealed that numbers seeking asylum in wealthy countries had fallen in 2010, with the exceptions of a few countries such as France, Germany and Sweden (see EUROPE 10346), Eurostat, the European statistical office, published its analysis of the situation, reporting that the number of asylum seekers registered in the EU27 only the very slightest drop in 2010, with 257,800 asylum applicants. It is estimated that around 90% of these were new applicants and around 10% were repeat applicants, Eurostat says. In 2009, there were 264,000 asylum applicants.
According to Eurostat, the main countries of citizenship of these applicants were Afghanistan (20,600 or 8% of the total number of applicants), Russia (18,500 or 7%), Serbia (17,700 or 7%), Iraq (15,800 or 6%) and Somalia (14,400 or 6%). France, Germany and Sweden were the countries which registered the highest number of applicants, with 51,600, 48,500 and 31,900 applicants respectively. They were followed by Belgium (26,100), the United Kingdom (23,700), the Netherlands (15 100), Austria (11,100), Greece (10,300), Italy (10,100) and Poland (6,500). These 10 member states accounted for more than 90% of applicants registered in the EU27 in 2010.
When compared with the population of each member state, the highest rates of applicants registered were recorded in Cyprus (3,600 applicants per million inhabitants), Sweden (3,400), Belgium (2,400), Luxembourg (1,600) and Austria (1,300). Eurostat reports that, 75% of applications (167,000 cases) were rejected, 12% (27,000) were granted refugee status, 9% (20,400) were granted subsidiary protection and 3% (7,600) were granted authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons. (S.P./transl.rt)