EU Member States granted protection to 76,300 asylum seekers in 2008
Asylum-seeker children in a reception centre in Greece. Photo: Courtesy of Hellenic Coast Guard
According to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Eurostat, the European Union Member States (EU27) granted protection to 76,300 asylum-seekers in 2008. The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection were citizens of Iraq, Somalia, Russia, Afghanistan and Eritrea, which altogether comprised almost 60 percent of the persons granted protection status. Two thirds of the persons receiving protection status were registered in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy or Sweden.
In 2008, a total number of 281,100 asylum decisions were made in the EU27, of which 209,200 were first instance decisions and 71,900 final decisions on appeal. At the first instance 59,300 persons were granted protection status, and 17 000 received a final positive decision on appeal. The rate of recognition of asylum applicants, i.e. the share of positive decisions in the total number of decisions, was 28 percent in the first instance and 24 percent for final decisions. Of the 76,300 persons who were granted protection status, 40,000 persons were granted refugee status, 25,500 subsidiary protection and 10,800 granted authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons.
The recognition rate varies considerably among Member States. The highest rates in the first instance were recorded in Poland (65%), Lithuania and Portugal (both 64%), and the lowest in Greece (less than 1%), Slovenia (3%), and Spain (5%). The highest rates of recognition for final decisions were registered in Finland (87%), the Netherlands (52%) and Sweden (49%). However, it should be kept in mind that the country of citizenship of applicants differs greatly among Member States.
Click here to see the full statistics.
Swedish EU-Presidency 2009
This website is no longer updated. It was a UNHCR Stockholm initiative meant to facilitate the monitoring of refugee and asylum issues during Sweden's European Union Presidency 1 July – 31 December 2009.
