Brussels, 31/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR) report entitled “Asylum Requests in Industrialised Countries in 2005”, published in mid-March, says the number of asylum seekers, both in the 25 EU countries and in Europe as a whole, reached its lowest level last year since 1988. Requests for asylum in the European Union fell by 16% in 2005, compared with 2004. France continues to receive most asylum requests, roughly 50,000 in 2005. In second place comes the United Kingdom, with 30,500 requests, followed by Germany, with 28,900, and Austria, with 22,500. The largest fall was in the ten new EU Member States, where requests fell by 35%, compared with just 12% in the 15 old Member States. “These figures show that the prevalent rhetoric in industrial countries on the increasing problems linked to asylum do not reflect reality,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres.