The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) released its 2017 Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union on Monday and said there had been a notable decrease in the number of asylum seekers in 2017 – particularly involving Afghans.
According to the report, in 2017, there were 728,470 applications for international protection in the EU. This figure represents a decrease of 44 percent compared to 2016, when there were almost 1.3 million applications.
Provisional data for early 2018 (January - April) meanwhile shows that application levels have stabilized at an average of less than 50,000 per month, the report stated.
The report stated that while the overall number of asylum applications registered in 2017 dropped, some countries still noted considerable increases. Syria (15 percent), Iraq (7 percent) and Afghanistan (7 percent) remained the top three countries of origin of applicants in the EU.
These were followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Eritrea, Albania, Bangladesh, Guinea and Iran.
With 49,280 applicants, Afghanistan completed the top three of main countries of origin. Similar to Iraq Afghanistan represented seven percent of the total, but the year-on-year decrease (- 74 percent) of Afghan applicants was the most significant among the main countries of origin.
Afghanistan was the main country of origin between 2009 and 2012, and later remained constantly among the top three.
In 2017, Afghans lodged more applications in the first half of the year than in the second half; in January and March the monthly totals exceeded 5,000, whereas in the second half of the year the highest monthly total was 4,220 in August.
In a press release issued by EASO, the office said with respect to the number of pending cases, at the end of 2017 there were a total of 954,100 applications awaiting a final decision, which represents a decrease of 16 percent against the end of 2016.
This reflects the lower number of applications and suggesting greater efficiency in the asylum systems of Member States and the Common European Asylum System (CEAS).
Latest figures for the first four months of 2018 highlight a further drop in the number of applications lodged. The EASO stated that between January and April 2018 approximately 197,000 individuals sought international protection in the EU, a level lower than the same period in each of the last three years.
Still, it was higher than the pre-crisis levels in 2014. Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan continued to be the main countries of origin of applicants.