The report concludes the following:

- There was a large increase in asylum applicants in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. There were nearly 25 % more asylum applicants in the EU-27 during the second quarter of 2011, compared with the second quarter of 2010.

- Three main destination countries - France, Germany and Belgium - accepted about half of all asylum applications in the EU-27 in the second quarter of 2011 (14 505, 10 820 and 7 160 respectively).

- The main 3 citizenships were Afghans, Russians and Iraqis, lodging 6 460, 3 900 and 3 465 asylum applications respectively.

- Almost 8 in 10 of the 68 890 asylum applicants in the EU-27 were below the age of 35 and 1 in 4 was a minor. 30 % of asylum applicants in the EU were female. For Bangladeshi and Tunisian citizens, the proportion is even lower (around 5 % of asylum seekers were women).

- 56 980 first instance decisions were made by the national authorities of EU Member States during the second quarter of 2011. Amongst them, 1 in 4 decisions was positive, granting asylum or some other form of international protection.

The full report with tables and figures can be downloaded here or on the Eurostat website

The publication is only available in English