Brussels, 23/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The number of asylum seekers in the EU was up in 2011, rising to 301,000 compared to 259,000 in 2010, according to a recent publication by Eurostat dated 23 March. According to the estimates, nearly 90% of these people were “first-time applicants”, whilst around 10% of them were making a subsequent application. In 2011, the Statistical Office of the EU continues, asylum seekers were mainly citizens of Afghanistan (28,000, or 9% of all applicants), Russia (18,200, or 6%), Pakistan (15,700, or 5%), Iraq (15,200, or 5%) and Serbia (13,900, or 5%).
Eurostat adds that France, Germany and Italy are the three countries which registered the highest number of asylum seekers in 2011, with 56,300 seekers for France, 53,300 for Germany and 34,100 for Italy. They are followed by Belgium (31,900), Sweden (29,700), the United Kingdom (26,400), the Netherlands (14,600), Austria (14,400) and finally Greece (9300) and Poland (6900). These 10 member states accounted for more than 90% of all asylum seekers in 2011.
But in comparison with the population of each member state, Malta has seen the highest rates of asylum seekers, with 4,500 applicants (per million head of population), followed by Luxembourg (4,400), Sweden (3,200), Belgium (2,900) and Cyprus (2,200).
Lastly, Eurostat states that three quarters of first-instance decisions were rejected in 2011 (177,900 out of a total of 237,400 decisions) and 29,000 applicants (12%) were granted refugee status, 21,400 (or 9%) additional protection and 9,100 (4%) a residence permit for humanitarian reasons. (SP/transl.fl)