EU Takes In 185,000 Asylum Seekers, Mostly Syrians in One Year - Eurostat

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — European Union member states granted protection status to more than 185,000 asylum seekers in 2014, almost 40 percent of whom arrived from Syria, the European Union's statistical office Eurostat said Tuesday.

"The largest group of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in 2014 remained citizens of Syria (68 400 persons or 37% of the total number of persons granted protection status), followed at a distance by citizens of Eritrea (14 600 or 8%) and those of Afghanistan (14 100 or 8%)," Eurostat said in a press release.

EU Member States granted protection to more than 185 000 asylum seekers in 2014 #Eurostat http://t.co/gQEP0pOofz pic.twitter.com/fLRy0bR3em

— EU_Eurostat (@EU_Eurostat) 12 мая 2015

According to the document, the number of asylum seekers who found refuge in an EU member state in 2014 increased by almost 50 percent compared to figures for 2013.

Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy were named among the EU countries that granted protection status to the largest number of foreigners, together taking in a total of more than 120,000 people.

Eurostat calculations suggest that since 2008 the European Union has granted protection to more than 750,000 asylum seekers.