Brussels, 29/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - Requests for asylum in the European Union fell statistically in the first half of 2008. According to a report by the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) published on 17 October, there were 96,300 new asylum applications recorded in the first six months of 2008, 11% fewer than in the second half of 2007, when there were 108,200, and 3% down on the 99,700 requests recorded in the first half of 2007. The report, on 44 industrialised countries across the world, notes that there are fewer asylum applications in the first half of each year. The figures do not include asylum requests made to Italy, where no pre-2008 monthly data are available. If Italy is included, the number of new asylum applications in the first six months of 2008 rises to 103,500. Southern Europe experienced a significant decrease in asylum applications in the first half of the year. Malta, however, saw the number of asylum applications treble, compared with the same period last year. Requests for asylum also fell in Northern Europe. This fall is largely due to a drop in the numbers applying for asylum in Sweden. Over the first half of this year, France was the EU country which received the highest number of asylum applications, up 6% on the same period last year. Between January and June, 15,600 applications were lodged, with much of the increase due to a massive influx of asylum seekers from Mali (1,600 applications, almost three times the amount for all of 2007). Then come the United Kingdom (14,500), Sweden (12,300, a fall of 34% compared with the second half of 2007, when there were18,600 applications), Germany (10,700), Greece (10,200) and Italy (7,200). Iraqis are the largest group of asylum seekers in the EU and in the other industrialised countries, although there was a fall in their numbers in the first six months of the year, the UNHCR says. In all, there were 19,500 asylum requests by Iraqi nationals in the industrialised countries, with 60% of that number in four countries: Sweden (3,900, or 20%), Germany (3,400, 18%), the Netherlands (12%) and Turkey (14%), the report says. Similar proportions can be observed for the 9,400 in total asylum seekers from the Russian Federation, who were registered mainly in Poland (30%), France (18%) and Austria (16%). Somali asylum seekers were concentrated in four countries: Sweden (23%), the Netherlands (19%), the United Kingdom (12%) and Italy (10%). More than 6,300 asylum applications were received from Afghans in the United Kingdom (26% of the total), Greece (16%) and Italy (11%). The trends in the EU run counter to those of the other industrialised countries where asylum applications rose by 3% between January and June (to 165,100 in total) compared with 2007. To read the UNHCR report, go to http: //http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/STATISTICS/48f742792.pdf (B.C./transl.rt)