(20 April 2016) – The 28 Member States of the European Union granted protection status to 333 350 asylum seekers in 2015, an increase of 72% compared with 2014. Half of the beneficiaries were Syrians.
The largest group of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in 2015 remained citizens of Syria (166 100 persons, or 50% of the total number of persons granted protection status in the EU Member States), followed by citizens of Eritrea (27 600 or 8%) and those of Iraq (23 700 or 7%).
Of the 166 100 Syrians granted protection status in the EU, more than 60% were recorded in Germany (104 000).
Of the 27 600 Eritreans granted protection, more than three-quarters were registered in three EU Member States: Germany (9 500), Sweden (6 600) and the Netherlands (4 900).
Of the 23 700 Iraqis, 15 500 were granted protection status in Germany and 2 800 in France.