Introduction

This report summarizes patterns and trends in the number of individual asylum claims. submitted in Europe and selected non-European countries during 2014. The data presented are based on information available as of 14 March 2015, unless otherwise indicated. The report covers the 38 European and six non-European States that currently provide monthly asylum statistics to UNHCR. Figures are mostly based on official asylum statistics, reflecting national laws and procedures. In addition, UNHCR conducted refugee status determination under its mandate in a number of countries included in this report.(3) Annex Table 2 provides trends in selected Eastern European countries, based on annual data.

The group of countries analysed is referred to collectively as “the 44 industrialized countries” and is defined as such for the purposes of this report only. The 44 countries are: the 28 Member States of the European Union (4), Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Kosovo (S/RES/1244 (1999)), Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey, as well as Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and the United States of America. This group of 44 countries received an estimated 866,000 new asylum applications in 2014.

The numbers in this report reflect asylum claims made at the first instance of asylum procedures. Neither applications on appeal or review nor information on the outcome of asylum procedures or on the admission of refugees through resettlement programmes are included.

To the extent possible, the statistics presented reflect the number of individuals lodging an asylum application for the first time. However, some of the figures quoted in this report are very likely to include repeat applications submitted in the same or another country. and therefore may not reflect the actual number of new asylum-seekers.

Read the full report:- UNHCR Asylum Trends 2014: Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries

Source: UNHCR