Over 700,000 asylum seekers were granted protection in EU countries, last year. More than half were coming form Syria
Over 700,000 asylum seekers were granted protection in EU member states during 2016 and more than half of them were Syrians fleeing the civil conflict in their native country. In addition, the EU states have also received over 14,000 resettled refugees, according to the official data released by Eurostat.
When it comes to which European country has received the most asylum seekers, Germany stands out, accepting more than half of the total asylum seekers that were granted protection in the EU during 2016.
445,210 asylum seekers were granted protection by the German state. The number is three times higher than that recorded in 2016.
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Sweden received 69,350 asylum seekers and 35,450 were accepted by the Italian authorities.
Out of all the persons who were granted protection status in 2016 in the EU, 389,670 persons were granted refugee status, that is over a half of all positive decisions taken by the courts. Almost 4000 applicants were granted subsidiary protection while 56,970 received an authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons.
The EU magistrates were faced with over one million applications which were resolved with first instance decisions while a further 221,000 final decisions came after appeal.
Recognition rates vary greatly when taking into account the number of citizenships, which was the lowest, under one per cent for those coming form Macedonia. The highest number was recorded among Syrian citizens, 98 per cent.
Syrians make up for over half of asylum seekers granted protection
When it comes to Syrian citizens, the numbers show they are by far the largest group of beneficiaries of protection status granted by the EU member states.
Over half of those who received asylum status were Syrians, while Iraqis and Afghans made up the second and third larges groups.
Syrians made up the larges numbers in Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands, while Hungary mostly offered protection for citizens coming from Afghanistan and in Poland, most of the asylum seekers were of Russian citizenship.
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In Italy, migrant from Nigeria were the majority when it comes to granting protection and in Portugal, Ukrainians were the largest group.
In the United Kingdom, by citizenship, most asylum seekers granted protection status were form Eritrea, followed by Syria and Afghanistan.
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