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1st-LD:Writethru: Most asylum applicants in EU come from Syria, Afghanistan

Xinhua, September 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Syrians and Afghans represented the two main citizenships among first-time asylum applicants in the European Union (EU) over the second quarter of 2015, accounting for a third of all applicants, the EU statistical office Eurostat said Friday.

From April to June 2015, 213,200 first-time asylum seekers applied for protection in the EU, up by 15 percent compared with the first quarter of 2015 and by 85 percent compared with the second quarter of 2014.

"In particular, the number of Syrians and Afghans rose considerably to reach almost 44,000 and 27,000 respectively," said Eurostat in a press release.

People from Kosovo made the most asylum applications in the first quarter of 2015.

During the second quarter of 2015, the highest number of first-time applicants was registered in Germany at 80,900, accounting for 38 percent of all first-time applicants in the EU. The second highest number was registered in Hungary, followed by Austria, Italy, France and Sweden.

Compared with the previous quarter, the number of first-time asylum applicants in the second quarter of 2015 notably jumped in the Netherlands, Latvia, Austria, Finland and Denmark.

Compared with the population of each member state, the highest rates of registered first-time applicants were recorded in Hungary, while there were about 3,317 first time applicants for every million inhabitants.

Eurostat data showed that at the end of June 2015, around 592,000 persons were the subject of an application for asylum protection in the EU still under consideration by the responsible national authority. Last year, at the end of June 2014, there were nearly 365,000. Endit