According to a report of Eurostat, European countries granted asylum status to 710,400 asylum seekers in 2016, more than double the number of 2015.
The largest group of beneficiaries remained citizens of Syria (405,600 persons, or 57% of the total number of persons granted protection status in the EU Member States), followed by citizens of Iraq (65,800 or 9%) and those of Afghanistan (61,800 or 9%).
The EU countries granted asylum status to only 3.1 per cent of Albanian cases. EU considers Albania a safe country of origin. Albania is not a war-ridden country, so the EU governments have decided not to accept asylum seekers.
According to the Amnesty International report, over 20,000 Albanians have applied for asylum status in European Union countries during 2016. This fact shows that the number of Albanian asylum seekers has decreased, however, in comparison with 2015.
In 2016, the highest number of persons granted asylum was registered in Germany 445,210, Sweden 69,350, Italy 35,450, France 35,170, Austria 31,750, and the Netherlands 21,825.
