During the third quarter of 2016 (from July to September), 358,300 first time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the member states of the European Union, up by 17% compared with the second quarter of 2016, when 305,700 asylum applications were submitted.
With 87,900 first time applicants between July and September 2016, Syrians remained the main citizenship of people seeking international protection in the EU, ahead of Afghans (62,100 first time applicants) and Iraqis (36,400).
They represent the three main citizenships of first time asylum applicants in the EU over the third quarter 2016, accounting for slightly more than half of all first time applicants.
During the third quarter of 2016, the highest number of first time applicants was registered in Germany, with over 237,400 first time applicants, or 66% of total first time applicants in the EU.
Germany was followed by Italy (34,600, or 10%), France (20,000, or 6%), Greece (12,400, or 4%), the United Kingdom (9,200, or 3%) and Austria (8,400, or 2%).
Among member states with more than 2,000 first time asylum seekers in the third quarter 2016, numbers of first time applicants rose most compared with the previous quarter in Bulgaria (+82%), the Netherlands (+72%), Belgium (+29%), Italy (+28%) and Germany (+27%). In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Hungary (-73%), Poland (-37%) and Austria (-22%).
The number of first time applicants in Croatia in the third quarter was 435, an increase of 37% from the second quarter (320). Of that number, 100 asylum seekers were Afghans, 75 were Iraqis and 75 Syrians.
Of the 87,900 Syrians who applied for the first time for asylum in the EU in the third quarter 2016, 81% were registered in Germany (71,200). Syrians represented the main citizenship of asylum seekers in eleven EU member states.
Afghanistan (17% of the total number of first time applicants) was the second main country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU in the third quarter 2016. Of the 62,100 Afghans seeking asylum protection for the first time in the EU in the period July-September 2016, more than 80% applied in Germany (50,500). Afghans represented the main citizenship of asylum seekers in five EU member states.
With 36,400 first time applicants (or 10% of the EU total) during the third quarter 2016, Iraq was the third country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU. 82% were registered in Germany (29,900).
Asylum in the EU was also sought by nationals of Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Eritrea, Albania, Russia and Somalia, while 27% of applications were other nationalities.
At the end of September, almost 1.2 million applications for asylum protection in the EU were under consideration by the responsible national authorities. A year earlier, at the end of September 2015, there were around 866,000.
With nearly 689,700 pending applications at the end of September 2016 (or 58% of the EU total), Germany had by far the largest share in the EU, ahead of Sweden (112,000, or 9%), Austria (81,400, or 7%) and Italy (81,300, or 7%).