Brussels, 19/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - According to Eurostat statistics published on Tuesday 19 June, the day before World Refugee Day, EU member states granted protection to 84,100 asylum seekers in 2011 compared with 75,800 in 2010. The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU27 were citizens of Afghanistan (13,300 persons or 16% of the total number of persons granted protection status), Iraq (9,000 or 11%) and Somalia (8,900 or 11%). In 2011, the highest number of persons granted protection status was registered in the United Kingdom (14,400), followed by Germany (13,000), France (10,700), Sweden (10,600), the Netherlands (8,400) and Italy (7,500). These member states accounted for more than three quarters of all those granted protection status in the EU27.
In 2011, 365,600 decisions on asylum applications were taken in the EU (first instance decisions and on appeal), Eurostat reports. In total, of the 84,100 persons who were granted protection status in 2011, 42,700 persons were granted refugee status, 29,400 subsidiary protection and 12,000 authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants, i.e. the share of positive decisions in the total number of decisions, was 25% for first instance decisions, split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (21%) and humanitarian status (4%). For final decisions on appeal, the recognition rate was 19%, again split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (17%) and humanitarian status (2%). (SP/transl.jl)