Albania with world's highest number of EU asylum applications

Albanians, who live in a country aspiring to enter the European Union, want to leave the mother state, more than residents of countries at war, such as Syria or Iraq, in relation to their population.

The Monitor has processed data from the annual asylum situation report published by the European Union for asylum demands from around the world, in relation to the respective population for 2017. From this data, it turns out that last year Albania ranked seventh for the number of absolute-value asylum seekers, with 26,060 asylum applications. But the figures are more alarming when we compare with the population of each country. According to Monitor's account for the number of asylum seekers for the first time for 1,000 residents for each of the 20 countries topping the list of absolute value, Albania ranks first in the world, including asylum seekers fleeing from war and conflict, due to its relatively small population, of 2.87 million people.1]

For every thousand residents in Albania, the number of asylum seekers in European Union countries was 9, leading the top-list. The latter rank citizens from Gambia, with 6.5 asylum applications in every 1,000 inhabitants, following Syrians who are fleeing one of the world's most bloody conflicts, with 5.9 demands for 1,000 people, ranked third. (See chart at end).

Afghanistan, which in terms of the number of asylum seekers, along with Iraq, makes up the three main states of asylum seekers' origin, according to the estimated 1000 residents, is ranked 7th and 8.

In the first ten countries for the highest number of 1,000 residents, countries from the Middle East (where there is conflict) and Africa lead mainly.

Even though the number of applications from Albania has come down, we are again ranked among the countries with their highest number. The annual report on asylumrs also stresses that the lowest percentage of admissions of these requirements have countries from the Western Balkans, such as Albania, Kosovo and Serbia.

Even the data for the first quarter of 2018 shows that Albania ranks among the countries with the highest number. About 3% of asylum seekers for the first time in the EU were originally from Albania, or approximately 4,000 applications.

According to the European Union's annual asylum situation report, published by the European Union, Albania ranks seventh in the world for the number of asylum seekers in the European Union in 2017, after countries fleeing war, such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eritrea, with 26 thousand applications. Since 2013, about 157 thousand Albanian citizens have applied for asylum, where the highest number was in 2015, with about 69 thousand people later dropping to 33 thousand people in 2016.

4,000 Albanians seek asylum for the first time in EU in January-March 2018

Albanians continued to lead asylum requirements in the EU among European states even in the first quarter of this year. Eurostat released the first quarter 2018 data on asylum seekers who applied for the first time in EU countries.

The 28th EU countries number about 131,000 new asylum seekers for the first quarter of which 3 percent, or about 4,000, were Albanians. The influx of Albanians seeking asylum has declined over the past years, but Albania leads European states outside the EU, but seeking asylum in the EU.

Eurostat reported that during the first quarter of 2018, 131,000 asylum seekers for the first time applied for international protection in the European Union Member States (BE). The number of asylum seekers decreased by 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2017, when 154,000 applicants were registered for the first time.

Most of the applications were from Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and Nigerians. The Syrians remained the largest group of persons seeking international protection in EU member states. The Syrians were ahead of the Iraqis (9 200), Afghans (7 700 applicants for the first time) and Nigerians (6400).

Applicants from these countries made up 30 percent of the total of resurgents in the EU

Most asylum applications in Germany, France, and Italy. During the first quarter of 2018, the largest number of applicants registered in Germany (with 34 400 applicants, or 26% of applicants, in France (25 300 or 19%), followed by Italy (17 800, or 14%) and Greece (13 000, or 10%).

The number of asylum seekers for the first time decreased compared to the previous quarter in Austria (-30%), Germany (-25% 24%) and Italy (-22%). By contrast, the increases were registered in Belgium and Spain (such as + 9%) and the Netherlands (+ 7%).

Compared to the population in Cyprus, the highest rate of first registered applicants in the first quarter of 2018 (1551 applicants per million) was registered, followed by Greece (with 1 204 asylumrs for 1 million people, Malta (856 applicants for 1 million) and Luxembourg. In the first quarter of 2018, there were 257 applicants for 1 million people in the EU as a whole.

At the end of March 2018, over 892 000 asylum requests in the EU member states were under consideration by national authorities, a 10% drop compared to March 2017 and 4% compared to December 2017. /Monitor/