EU: EASO report. Almost one million decisions on applications for asylum, half of them accepted. More applications rejected

(Brussels) “In 2017, as in 2016, slightly more than two thirds of all asylum-seekers were men, and one third women. Half the applicants went from 18 to 35 years of age, while almost one third were minors”, says the EASO report made known today. In terms of decisions adopted after the applications filed in the 28 EU countries, 996,685 first-instance decisions were issued in 2017, 13% less on 2016. “The reduction on an annual basis was clearly due to the lower number of applications filed”, says EASO. Out of all the first-instance decisions issued last year, about one half (462,355) were positive, but the generally positive rate of acknowledgement by the EU was 14% lower with respect to 2016. “In spite of the globally lower number of decisions issued, the number of negative decisions increased from 449,910 in 2016 to 534,330 in 2017”. As for positive decisions, in 2017, “the percentage of decisions granting the status of refugee (50% on 55% of 2016) or subsidiary protection (34% on 37%) went down abruptly, while the percentage of decisions granting humanitarian protection went up (15% on 8%)”.