Asylum-seeker numbers fall to almost half levels of a decade earlier, UN

(March 29, 2011) reportsThe number of asylum-seekers seeking to live in the industrialized world continues to fall. It is now almost half the level it was a decade ago, the United Nations refugee agency reported on Monday as it released its annual snapshot of asylum trends. The report from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) finds that 358,800 applications for asylum were lodged last year in 44 developed countries – a drop of 5 per cent on the 2009 figures .It was also about 42 per cent below the levels of 2001, when nearly 620,000 applications were made. Unveiling the report, High Commissioner António Guterres said the global dynamics of asylum had changed in recent years. He said “We need to study the root causes to see ,if the decline is because of fewer push factors in areas of origin, or tighter migration control in countries of asylum.
Serbia – including Kosovo – provided the biggest number of asylum-seekers in 2010, with 28,900 claims lodged, compared to only 18,800 the previous year. UNHCR said the sharp rise was probably due to the European Union’s December 2009 decision to grant visa-free entry to holders of Serbian passports. The other leading countries of origin of asylum-seekers were, in order: Afghanistan, China, Iraq, Russia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.