Eurostat News Release: Asylum in the EU – The number of asylum applicants in the EU jumped to more than 625.000 in 2014 – 20% were Syrians, 20 Μαρτίου 2015.
Over a year, the number of asylum applicants registered in the European Union (EU) has increased by 191.000 (+44%) to reach a peak of 626.000 in 2014. In particular, the number of Syrians rose by 72.000, from 50 000 in 2013 to almost 123.000 in 2014.
1 out of 3 asylum seekers in the EU applied in Germany
In 2014, the highest number of applicants was registered by far in Germany (202.700 applicants, or 32% of total applicants), followed by Sweden (81.200, or 13%), Italy (64.600, or 10%), France (62.800, or 10%) and Hungary (42.800, or 7%). It should be noted that these five Member States registered different trends last year. The number of asylum applicants in 2014 more than doubled compared with 2013 in Italy (+143%) and Hungary (+126%) and increased significantly in Germany (+60%) and Sweden (+50%), while it decreased by 5% in France.
Compared with the population of each Member State, the highest rates of registered applicants were recorded in Sweden (8.4 applicants per thousand inhabitants), well ahead of Hungary (4.3), Austria (3.3), Malta (3.2), Denmark (2.6) and Germany (2.5). In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Portugal, Slovakia and Romania. In 2014, there were 1.2 asylum applicants per thousand inhabitants in the EU.