The report concludes that:

- For the EU-27 the total number of asylum applications during the first quarter of 2012 is more or less similar to the number of applications during the same quarter of 2011. There are however around 9 000 applications less compared to het last quarter of 2011.

- Belgium registered 7 330 asylum applicants during the first quarter of  2012 (11% of the total number of asylum applicants in the EU-27). Only France, Germany and Sweden registered more asylum applicants. Luxembourg was the country with the highest number of asylum applications relative to the country population, followed by Sweden and Belgium.

- Afghanistan, Russia and Pakistan were the top 3 countries of origin for asylum seekers during the first quarter of 2012 in the EU-27. For Belgium the top 3 countries of origin are Afghanistan, Russia and Guinea.

- One out of four asylum applicants in the EU-27 was aged below 18 during the first quarter of 2012. Most asylum seekers were men, but with great differences depending on the country of origin.

- Table 6 on page 9 indicates which are the most popular countries of destination in the EU-27 for the thirty main citizenships of asylum seekers in the EU-27.

- Figure 9 on page 11 compares the first instance decisions by outcome for the member states reporting the highest number of first instance decisions issued during Q1 2012. Take note that not in all member states humanitarian statuses are granted in the framework of an asylum procedure, in some member states there are specific procedures for a these statuses. One out of five first instance decisions in the EU-27 in Q1 2012 was positive

- As illustrated by figure 10 and table 11, the outcome of the first instance decisions in the EU-27 shows large differences depending on the country of origin.

The full report with tables and figures can also be found on the Eurostat website.

The report is only available in English.

Please note :
The Eurostat data refer to persons and not to files and all data are provisional. The data are rounded up to the nearest 5. The data are supplied by Member States according to the provisions of Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007.