A record number of 1 255 600 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in member states of the EU last year, which is more than double increase compared to 2014.

This is revealed by the latest figures of Eurostat released on Friday,

The number of Syrians applying for asylum reached 362 800, which is a double increase compared to the previous year.

The number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan increased more than four times to reach 178 200.

There was also a seven-fold increase in the number of Iraqis whose applications rose to 121 500.

Asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq accounted for more than half of all first-time applicants.

More than a third of all asylum seekers applied for protection in Germany, where 441 800 first-time applicants were registered, followed by Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Italy and France.

The largest increase in the number of first-time asylum seekers compared to 2014 was registered in Finland (822 %), followed by Hungary, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Germany.

The highest number of first-time applications per capita was registered in Hungary – 17 699 per million inhabitants, followed by Sweden, Austria, Finland and Germany.

The lowest number of first time applications per capita was recorded in Croatia, Slovakia, Romania, Portugal and Lithuania.

On average, there were 2470 first-time applications per million EU inhabitants.

A total of 20 165 first-time applications were registered in Bulgaria, which represented an increase of 87 % compared to 2014.

Applications in Bulgaria accounted for 1.6 % of the total number of first-time applications in the EU.

There were 2800 first-time applications per million Bulgarians.

The most applications in Bulgaria were submitted by citizens of Iraq, followed by applicants from Afghanistan and Syria.

Almost half of all Syrian asylum seekers applied for protection in Germany.

Syrians represented the main citizenship of asylum-seekers in twelve EU member states.

Nearly half of Afghan asylum seekers applied for protection in Hungary and Sweden.

At the end of 2015, there were 922 800 applications pending approval by responsible national authority, which represented a double increase in their number compared to 2014.

The largest share of pending applications was registered in Germany where 424 800 applications were still under consideration.

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