Eurostat newsrelease: asylum applications in the first quarter of 2016

The News Release report on 'Asylum in the EU Member States', as well the Statistics Explained 'Asylum quarterly report for the first quarter 2016 are released. These reports provide information on the number of first asylum applications, first instance decisions and pending cases in the EU.

The News Release covers main trends on first time asylum applicants and on pending asylum applicants for the first quarter of 2016 in the EU28+EFTA region.

You can read the News Release in English, French and German through the following link

The Statistics Explained article Asylum quarterly report analyses the quarterly trends both on First time asylum applicants and on first instance decisions on asylum applications in the first quarter of 2016 (Q1 2016).

Some key messages in the data:

  • Fewer than 290 000 the number of first time asylum seekers in Q1 2016 in the EU;
  • The number of first applications dropped by 33% when compared with the last quarter of 2015 but increased by 51% when compared with the first quarter of 2015;
  • Citizens of 150 countries have sought asylum during Q1 2016;
  • Syrians, Afghanis and Iraqis the 3 main citizenships of asylum seekers in the EU;
  • Syrian asylum seekers have tripled compared with Q1 2015 to reach 102 000;
  • Iraqis and Iranians quadrupled in Q1 2016 compared with Q1 2015;
  • Six in ten applied for asylum in Germany during Q1 2016. Other main countries with high numbers of asylum seekers include Italy, France, Austria and the United Kingdom;
  • Highest number of first time applicants relative to the population in Germany and Austria;
  • Slightly more than a million asylum applications were pending at the end of March 2016;
  • 240 000 first instance decisions were made in the EU Member States during the first quarter of 2016, 60% of them were positive;
  • Syrians were the main recipients of protection statuses, followed by Eritreans and Iraqis.
Publication Date: Thu 16 Jun 2016
Geography:
Keywords:
Main theme:
Commissioner:
News type: