European asylum application flows: acceptances and rejections
By THE DATA TEAM
ON MAY 13th the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will unveil fresh plans to deal with large flows of migrants from the developing world. The proposals will target smugglers, formalise search and rescue operations and, controversially, suggest quotas to share the burden of refugees. The refugee crisis has intensified in the last few years. Civil wars in the Middle East and oppression in Africa have contributed to a surge in the number of asylum applications to Europe, from 336,000 in 2012 to over 600,000 last year. Applications from Syria and Eritrea have increased fivefold.
Read our graphical backgrounder on the Mediterranean's boat refugees here
But currently only a handful of countries shoulder the costs associated with accepting asylum-seekers. Germany, Italy and Sweden took over half of refugees applying to European countries in 2014. They, unsurprisingly, support quotas, while other countries are far less keen to spread the burden. Hungary, which fervently objects to quotas, processed only 6,000 of the over 40,000 applications it received in 2014. Fewer than 10% of those were accepted—the lowest acceptance rate in Europe. The European Commission is in for a heated debate.
