Asylum Seekers in EU (2015) – 333 350, an increase of 72% compared with 2014

The 28 Member States of the European Union (EU) granted protection status to 333 350 asylum seekers in 2015, an increase of 72% compared with 2014. Since 2008, a total of nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers have been granted protection status in the EU.

The largest group of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in 2015 remained citizens of Syria (166 100 persons, or 50% of the total number of persons granted protection status in the EU Member States), followed by citizens of Eritrea (27 600 or 8%) and those of Iraq (23 700 or 7%).

Syrians, for whom the number of decisions granting protection status has more than doubled compared with 2014, represented in 2015 the largest group granted protection status in more than half of the Member States. Of the 166 100 Syrians granted protection status in the EU, more than 60% were recorded in Germany (104 000). Of the 27 600 Eritreans granted protection, more than three-quarters were registered in three EU Member States: Germany (9 500), Sweden (6 600) and the Netherlands (4 900). Of the 23 700 Iraqis, 15 500 were granted protection status in Germany and 2 800 in France.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Asylum decisions in the EU – EU Member States granted protection to more than 330 000 asylum seekers in 2015 – Half of the beneficiaries were Syrians