The number of migrants heading to developed countries has fallen for the first time in 7 years, according to the OECD.
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The number of people migrating to developed countries has fallen for the first time in seven years, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
It comes as the EU is divided on the issue of migration, heightened by the row between Italy and Spain over the plight of migrants stranded in the Mediterranean.
But it does not mean people are less desperate, according to OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria.
"OECD countries currently host around 5.3 million refugees, more than half in Turkey alone."
"But it's an estimated 24 percent of the total number of people in need of international protection worldwide."
Applications to OECD countries fell 25 percent in 2017 to 1.23 million claims, from the record-high of 1.64 million a year earlier.
The top 3 countries of origin are Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq and the top destination is the U.S. followed by Germany.
Applications to EU member states nearly halved and the E.U. has struggled to reform its asylum rules which broke down in 2015.
In Germany the issue of migration threatens to wreck Chancellor Angela Merkel’s relationship with her CDU’s Bavarian coalition party who have given her two weeks to find a solution to the migration.