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Asylum applicants in EU surpass 625,000 in 2014

Xinhua, March 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

The number of asylum applicants registered in the European Union (EU) has increased 44 percent to reach a peak of 626,000 in 2014, the EU statistical office Eurostat said on Friday.

In particular, the number of Syrians rose from 50,000 in 2013 to almost 123,000 in 2014, amounting to 20 percent of the applicants.

The data showed that one out of three asylum seekers in the EU applied in Germany, or 32 percent of total applicants, followed by Sweden, Italy, France and Hungary.

The number of asylum applicants in 2014 more than doubled compared with 2013 in Italy and Hungary, while it decreased by 5 percent in France.

It also revealed over 70,000 Syrians applied for asylum in Germany and Sweden, which continued to be the main country of citizenship of asylum applicants in the EU.

Of the 122,800 Syrians who applied for asylum, around 60 percent were registered in Germany and Sweden.

Syrians represented also the main citizenship of asylum seekers in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Spain.

Afghanistan accounts for 7 percent of the total number of applicants, which became the second country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU in 2014. Endit