Applications for asylum, half of Albanians were refused in 2018

In relation to the population, Albania holds the world record for the high number of asylum seekers, but has a very low rate of recognition of their demand.

Eurostat today published that over 300 thousand asylum seekers have gained protection in one of the EU states, where 35% of them were Syrians. Albania has the lowest percentage of recognition of their first asylum request, with only 8%, passing only Georgia at a 5% rate.

For 2018, 10715 Albanian asylum applicants have received a positive response to their decision. However, the number of rejections does not match the number of annual applications, as providing a final response to the application could last more than 12 months, writes Top Channel.

A total of 99,710 applications of Albanians in one of the EU countries have been rejected since 2011. The highest number of rejections was in 2016, where 34 thousand asylum seekers received the final answer that their request was not accepted. In the last two years, 2017 and 2018, the number of rejections has been on the decline, as well as applications (see the graph below).

A total of 19,025 Albanians for asylum applied in 2018. In relation to the population, Albanians continue to want to flee more than anyone else, even than countries that are in a state of war.

The Monitor has processed the data for the number of Albanian asylumers for 1,000 residents, where it turns out that in 2018 every 1,000 residents applied 6.6 people, ranking first in the world in the number of asylum applications in proportion to the population.