More than 180 000 Afghan citizens applied for asylum in the EU in 2016

Almaty. March 17. Silkroadnews – In 2016 almost 183 000 Afghan citizens appealed to the authorities of the European Union countries for asylum for the first time, the Afghan Telegraph Agency (AfTAG) reports.

Such data has been presented by the regular EUROSTAT report on migration statistics. Germany remains the most popular destination in such applications.

Over 2016 more than 1.204 million applications for asylum were filed in the EU. This number is slightly lower compared to 2015 (when 1 257 000 applications were registered), but almost twice as much as in 2014 (562 700 applications). The greatest number of applications was filed by Syrians (334 800), Afghans (183 000) and Iraqis (127 000), meaning the citizens of these three countries accounted for slightly more than a half of all those seeking the asylum in the EU states.

Afghans accounted for about 15% of the total number of those who appealed for the first time. And about 70% of petitions (127 000) were filed in Germany.

In October of last year Berlin and Kabul signed an agreement under which the Afghan citizens whose applications for asylum or refugee status were rejected should be sent to Kabul on a monthly basis.

Statistics show that over the past year Germany expelled and returned to the countries of origin a total of 80 thousand people.