Germany alone registered more than 3 out of every 5 first-time asylum seekers in the EU during the second quarter of 2016, new figures released by Eurostat show.

With 61 per cent of all applications, Germany was by far the busiest member state in terms of asylum applications. Italy, with 9 per cent of the total, France (6 per cent), Hungary (5 per cent) and Greece (4 per cent) followed. 

Among member states with high numbers of asylum seekers, numbers of first-time applicants in the second quarter of 2016 more than doubled compared with the previous quarter in Greece (+132%) as well as in Hungary (+118%), and rose notably in Poland (+65%) and Spain (+37%).

The rate of applications per million inhabitants was highest in Germany, Hungary, Austria and Greece. In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Slovakia (2 applicants per million inhabitants), Romania (11), Portugal (15), Lithuania (24), the Czech Republic and Estonia (both 26). 

Malta received 385 first-time asylum applicants during Q2 of this year, a one per cent decrease from Q1.

With the highest number of applicants, Germany was also the country with the largest asylum application workload. Authorities there have some 571,500 pending applications - more than four times as many as the second-busiest member state, Sweden. 

Asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq made up more than half of all asylum applications in the EU during the second quarter of 2016, the Eurostat figures show. 

Syrians continued to be the most represented nationality, with 90,500 applicants representing 30 per cent of the total across the EU. Of those, 80 per cent were registered in Germany. 

With 50,300 applicants, Afghanis were the second most represented nation among asylum seekers. Again, Germany assumed the lion's share of applications, with nearly two-thirds of Afghan applicants being registered there. 

Iraqi applicants numbered 34,300, and as with applicants from Syria and Afghanistan, the vast majority were registered in Germany. 

The number of asylum seekers applying for protection by EU member states rose slightly during the second quarter of the year when compared to Q1, with 306,000 applicants in total.

 

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