According to the latest figures of the State Agency for Refugees (DAB), 1424 people from fourteen countries requested asylum in Bulgaria in the month of June, which represented an increase of 300 people compared to the number of asylum seekers in May.

In the first half of the year, a total of 7845 people requested asylum in Bulgaria. The largest number of asylum seekers were from Afghanistan – 3571, followed by 2550 refugees from Iraq and 966 applicants from Syria.

In the top five of nationalities seeking asylum in Bulgaria were also Pakistan and Iran with respectively 498 and 101 people.

In the first six months, Bulgarian authorities granted refugee status to 280 people. Humanitarian status was granted to 214 applicants, while 321 applications for refugee status were rejected.

In the month of June alone, Bulgaria granted refugee status to 31 people from three countries. Another 34 applicants were granted humanitarian status, while 135 applications for refugee status were rejected.

If the trend for the refugee flow is sustained in the second half of the year, 2016 will register the second highest number of refugees seeking asylum in Bulgaria since the beginning of the century.

In this respect, 2015 was a record year as back then a total of 20 391 foreigner citizens sought asylum in the country.