Asylum requests in the EU sharply declined in 2018 compared with previous years, new figures released by Eurostat have shown.
ADVERTISEMENTAsylum requests in the EU sharply declined in 2018 compared with previous years, new figures released by Eurostat have shown.
"In 2018, 580,800 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the Member States of the European Union (EU), down by 11% compared with 2017," the EU statistical agency said.
That is half the number recorded 2015, at the peak of the civil war in Syria, when 1,256,600 first-time asylum applicants were registered.
Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis continued to be the top nationalities, together accounting for almost 30% of all first-time applicants, Eurostat said.
Germany last year remained the prime destination for asylum applicants, followed by France, Greece, Spain and Italy.
Rome, now with an anti-immigration party sharing office, recorded the biggest drop in applications last year.
Asylum has been an inflammatory political issue throughout the bloc in recent years, which has prompted EU-wide reform projects to be postponed until after the European elections in May this year.