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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 02, 2002

UNHCR Issues Asylum Statistics

More than 510,000 people applied for asylum in 27 industrialized countries in 2001, according to a preliminary statistical report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday.


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More than 510,000 people applied for asylum in 27 industrialized countries in 2001, according to a preliminary statistical report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said at Friday's press briefing that in the 27 countries which have provided complete asylum statistics for 2001, total asylum applications increased by about 10 percent over 2000.

The statistics show that in the 13 European Union (EU) countries, applications increased by less than 1 percent, from 288,000 applications in 2000 to 290,500 last year, while during the same time, applications rose by 38 percent, from 30,500 to 42,100,in the six Central European countries covered by the report.

Redmond said that in non-European countries, applications increased by 36 percent in the United States, by 13 percent in Canada, and by 11 percent in New Zealand. Meanwhile, applications in Australia dropped by more than 10 percent.

Figures from the UNHCR show that Afghans, in 2001 for the firsttime, made up the largest group of people seeking asylum in industrialized countries.

The second largest applicant group in 2001 came from Iraq, and the third largest group was from Turkey.

The UNHCR spokesman said that because some data is still unavailable, it is not yet possible to determine which industrialized country received the largest number of asylum applications for the entire year.

The UNHCR report analyzed asylum data for the year 2001 in 25 European countries, and Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. However, as the United Kingdom and Greece have provided only partial data for 2001 to date, the two countries areexcluded from much of the analysis, Redmond said.





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