Between April and June 2015 (second quarter), Malta received 380 first time asylum seeker applications, 35 more first time applications than the first quarter.
During this period, a total of 213 200 first time asylum seekers applied for protection in the European Union, up by 15% compared with the first quarter of 2015, and by 85% compared with the second quarter of 2014. The number of applications by Syrians and Afghans rose considerably to reach almost 44 000 and 27 000 respectively. They represent the two main citizenships of first time asylum applicants in the EU over the second quarter 2015, accounting for a third of all first time applicants.
Kosovars, who were the top citizenship of first time asylum applicants in the first three months of 2015, have seen their number drop from almost 50 000 during the first quarter 2015 to just over 10 000 in the second quarter 2015.
More than one out of three applied for asylum in Germany
During the second quarter, the highest number of first time applicants was registered in Germany
(80 900 first time applicants, or 38% of total first time applicants in the EU), followed by Hungary (32 700, or 15%).
One out of five first time asylum seekers originates from Syria
Syria was during the second quarter of 2015 the main country of citizenship of asylum seekers in the EU seeing 44 000 first time asylum applicants. Of the 44 000 Syrians who applied for the first time for asylum in the EU in the second quarter, more than three quarters were registered in four Member States: Germany (16 300), Hungary (8 400), Austria (5 300) and Sweden (3 900). In total, Syrians represented the main citizenship of asylum seekers in ten EU Member States.
Highest number of first time applicants relative to the population in Hungary
Compared with the population of each Member State, the highest rates of registered first time applicants during the second quarter were recorded in Hungary, with 3, 317 first time applicants per million inhabitants, ahead of Austria, Sweden, and Germany. In contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Slovakia (5 applicants per million inhabitants), Croatia and Romania