Eurostat: Romania, among EU members least visited by asylum seekers

During April-June 2016, 215 people asked for the first time asylum in Romania, said on Thursday the European Statistics Office (Eurostat).

In the second quarter of the year, there were 11 asylum seekers at one million Romanian citizens, reported to the Romania’s population, which is the second lowest immigrant pressure from EU in this respect.

In absolute number, Romania was on the seventh place in EU for asylum seekers in the second quarter of the year.

Out of the 215 asylum seekers from Romania in the second quarter of the year, most of the were Syrians (95), followed by Iraqis (30) and Afghans (10).

During the second quarter of 2016 (from April to June 2016), 305,700 first time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the Member States of the European Union (EU), up by 6 percent compared with the first quarter of 2016 (when 287,100 first time applicants were registered).

During the second quarter 2016, the highest number of first time applicants was registered in Germany (with almost 187,000 first time applicants, or 61 percent of total first time applicants in the EU member states), followed by Italy (27 000, or 9 percent), France (17,800, or 6 percent), Hungary (14,900, or 5 percent) and Greece (12 000, or 4 percent).

In contrast, decreases were registered in particular in the Nordic Member States–Denmark (-59 percent), Finland (-53 percent) and Sweden (-42 percent), as well as in the Netherlands (-47 percent), Belgium (-44 percent) and Austria (-22 percent).

The lowest proportion of asylum seekers was in Slovakia: 2 foreigners at one million citizens of the country. In Slovakia in the second quarter of 2016, 10 people asked for the first time asylum, a drop of 5 requests compared with the first three months of the year.

Georgiana Bendre