EU Member States granted protection to more than 100 000 asylum seekers in 2012 compared with 84 300 in 2011.
In 2012, the highest number of persons granted protection status was registered in Germany (22,200), followed by Sweden (15,300), the United Kingdom (14,600) and France (14,300). All together, these four Member States accounted for nearly two thirds of all those granted protection status in the EU27.
The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection status1 in the EU27 were citizens of Syria (18,700 persons or 18% of the total number of persons granted protection status), Afghanistan (13,500 or 13%) and Somalia (8,100 or 8%).
These data on the results of asylum decisions in the EU27 are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union on the occasion of the World Refugee Day on Thursday.
Around a quarter of EU27 asylum decisions at the first instance resulted in protection status
In 2012, 407,300 decisions on asylum applications4 were made in the EU27, of which 274, 500 were first instance decisions and 132,800 final decisions on appeal.
Decisions made at the first instance resulted in 77,300 persons being granted protection status, while a further 25,400 received protection status on appeal6.
In total, of the 102 700 persons who were granted protection status in 2012, 51 400 persons were granted refugee status (50% of all positive decisions), 37 100 subsidiary protection (36%) and 14 200 authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons (14%). In addition, the EU27 Member States received 4 500 resettled refugees7.
The rate of recognition of asylum applicants, i.e. the share of positive decisions in the total number of decisions, was 28% for first instance decisions, split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (25%) and humanitarian status (3%). For final decisions on appeal the recognition rate was 19%, again split between refugee and subsidiary protection status (14%) and humanitarian status (5%).
It should be noted that, while both refugee and subsidiary protection status are defined by EU law, humanitarian status is granted on the basis of national legislation.
Syrians, Afghans and Somalis largest groups granted protection status in the EU27
Syrians became in 2012 the single largest group of persons granted protection status in the EU27. Of the 18,700 Syrians granted protection status in the EU27, more than 70% were recorded in two Member States: Germany
(8,400) and Sweden (5,000).
Of the 13,500 Afghans granted protection, 3,200 were registered in Germany, 2,800 in Sweden, 1,900 in Austria and 1,500 in Belgium, and of the 8,100 Somalis, 2,100 were in Sweden and 1,100 each in Malta and the Netherlands.
MALTA
Malta last year granted recognition to 45 refugees. 1,240 were granted subsidiary protection and 165 were granted protection for humanitarian reasons. The rate of recognition of refugee and subsidiary protection status was 79.9 per cent and humanitarian status was 10 per cent as first instance. Three-quarters of the migrants granted protection in Malta were Somali.