How many refugees are actually coming to Europe?
Daniel Korski 3:33pm
A human wave of refugees is supposedly setting off for Europe from North Africa. But
what are the real figures? The first thing to note that refugees from North Africa come at a time when there has been a sharp decrease in the number of asylum applicants in the 27 EU member-states.
Eurostat says that in 1992 there were 670,000 applications in the EU-15 and in 2001 there were 424,500 applications in the expanded EU-27. But according to the UN, the 27 EU member-states
registered only 247,300 asylum claims in 2009 and 235,900 in 2010, a 5 per cent annual decrease. Within this group, the 15 ‘old’ EU member-states saw no significant change in the number
of applicants during the last couple of years, while the 12 ‘new’ member-states registered 9,600 fewer claims, a drop of 38 per cent.
Britain alone was the sixth largest recipient of new asylum seekers in 2010, with 22,100 claims. But this was the lowest level since 1989. Compared to 2009, this represents a 28 per cent drop. The figure confirms a trend line between 2006 and 2010, which saw Britain receive a smaller share of asylum-seekers out of the global number of applications. In 2006 the figure was 9 per cent; in 2010 it was down to 6 per cent. By comparison, Sweden – a country seven times less populated than Britain – took three per cent more of the total number of applicants worldwide.
Immigration is a different matter, but the numbers of migrants coming into Europe are also decreasing. According to Eurostat figures, in 2008 about 3.8 million people immigrated into one of the EU member-states and at least 2.3 million emigrants are reported to have left one of the states. Compared with 2007, immigration to EU member-states is estimated to have decreased by 6 per cent and emigration to have increased by 13 per cent. These statistics are three years old, but there is no sign of a massive change. In Britain, the Home Office reports that the number of persons granted British citizenship fell by 1 per cent compared to last year.
Finally, how many refugees have come to Europe in 2011 so far? Up-to-date data is hard to come by for all of Europe, but the Home Office estimates that including dependants, the number of asylum applications to the EU-27 countries increased by 1 per cent in the first quarter of 2011 (58,300) compared with the first quarter of 2010 (57,600). The number of applications for asylum in Britain, excluding dependants, in turn was 11 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2011 (4,845) compared with the same period last year (4,355). This represents the first quarter since 2009 for which the number of applications is higher than a year earlier. But it remains a very small percentage of the world's refugees.
Numbers only mean so much. It is perfectly understandable to be concerned about refugees and migrants and their impact on local communities, even if the actual numbers of people are limited. But given the rhetoric of the likes of Silvio Berlusconi and the talk of “waves” of refugees setting off from North Africa, it is worth reminding oneself that across Europe, the number of refugees and migrants has decreased over many years; and while Britain experienced an early increase in early 2011, it is too early to say whether this will be sustained.
Previous
bojimbo
June 25th, 2011 4:10pm Report this commentWhen there official figures , multiply by 4 to get correct amount .
PuppetMaster
June 25th, 2011 4:12pm Report this commentMore and more people are beginning to realise that most of Europe is broke, perhaps immigrants are worried about what will happen to them when the cracks can't be papered over anymore.
In the case of Britain it's going to get violent and ugly, thanks to the wonders of the state education system.
Bellevue
June 25th, 2011 4:56pm Report this commentDaniel, you should look at the Gates of Vienna website. It will make your hair stand on end.
And if there are so 'few' asylum seekers coming from Africa, why are EU countries desperately trying to shut their borders?
and I'll go to bed at noon
June 25th, 2011 5:08pm Report this commentWell done, Korski. Give the Coffee House troglodytes an excuse to foam at the mouth about Europe and immigrants at the same time, why don't you?
Am now genuinely convinced your long-term plan is to give as many of them as possible fatal aneurysms, thus raising the average sanity level of the human race. Crafty :)
Nick
June 25th, 2011 5:32pm Report this commentThat's because they are turning up as 'visitors', working, and then claiming under the HRA they can't be deported - family life.
No need to be a refugee anymore
Edward Sutherland
June 25th, 2011 7:05pm Report this commentEurostat? Wasn't that the organisation, Mr Korski, that was too dim to realise that the the Greeks had been falsifying their returns for years. Any EU stats/accounts need to be treated with the utmost suspicion. Just remind me, Mr Korski, when were the EU accounts last approved by auditors?
Tendryakov
June 25th, 2011 7:53pm Report this commentNorth africans churn out babies on an industrial scale, which is why they have huge unemployment and poverty. The easiest way to cope with this is by dumping their problems on us, as per usual. Besides which, Houari Boumedienne, then president of Algeria, promised, or threatened, in 1974:
“One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”
Mrs Grundy
June 25th, 2011 8:07pm Report this commentNick - The solution is to deport them anyway but with along wth their multitudinous families, so they can enjoy their family life somewhere that's not Britain. The left, although nominally not in power, is still engaged in the destruction of Britain. This should be resisted. Decisions of the European Court or whatever the hell it is grandly called, should be ignored. So should any fines they levy. They'd only get misplaced in the unusual accounting structure in Brussels anyway.
Verity
June 26th, 2011 4:29am Report this commentMrs Grundy is correct - fines by the EU for non-compliance with their madness should be ignored. They are totally irrelevant in the Alice-in-Wonderland of Brussels. Ignore them. They don't matter. A bit like Dave, really. He's not even a real PM.
Roy
June 26th, 2011 7:03am Report this commentIt's not that I dislike asylum seekers but the cunning way they use the dim witted British establishment to gain entry. The way this system listens intently to the misguided, forgetting completely the majority. Never entertaining such ill conceived ideas as a referendum. They know best and no one need question their all seeing, left wing, self-righteous, chicanery.
Maddy1
June 26th, 2011 8:24am Report this commentWe need a William, like Doomsday book for this millennium so everybody can see the figures and vote according to their conscience not government spin.
Boudicca
June 26th, 2011 12:03pm Report this commentHow many refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants are coming to Europe - and in particular the UK?
TOO MANY. We have been colonised by millions from the 3rd world in the past decade and a half. It is time to say NO MORE.
Cassandra
June 26th, 2011 8:16pm Report this commentThis article seems disingenuous in citing figures for refugees but not for illegal immigrants. The problem that is visible on Lampedusa, on Malta, in Greece and elsewhere is illegal, economic migration. The figures for these, almost entirely young men under 25, is likely to be much higher than for refugees, genuine or otherwise.
Peter From Maidstone
June 27th, 2011 10:50am Report this commentWhy has DK chosen to focus only on asylum seekers, when Britain faces a wave of over 500,000 immigrants every year. 10,000 every week. This is the real problem.
Back to top