Provisional data provided by Governments to UNHCR indicate that some 452,000 asylum applications were submitted in 25 European countries in 2000, 4% less than in 1999, when 471,000 applications were recorded. In the 15 countries of the European Union, the number of applications rose slightly (+0.5%), from 387,000 in 1999 to almost 390,000 in 2000 (see Table 1).
In 2000, the United Kingdom received the largest number of asylum applications (97,900 or 22% of the total number of applications lodged in Europe), followed by Germany (78,800 or 17%) and the Netherlands (43,900 or 10%) (see Table 1).
When compared to the size of the total national population, Slovenia received the largest number of asylum-seekers in Europe during 2000 (4.7 applications per 1,000 inhabitants), followed by Belgium (4.2) and Ireland (2.9) (see Table 2).
The largest number of applications submitted during 2000 was recorded in the months of October and November 2000 (some 43,000 in each month). In December 2000, an estimated 37,200 new applications were lodged, 15% less than during November (see Table 3).
In 2000, the main three nationalities of asylum-seekers in Europe remained unchanged compared to 1999: citizens from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia submitted the largest number of applications in Europe (42,300), followed by nationals from Iraq (34,700) and from Afghanistan (28,800). The number of Iranian applications more than doubled, from 12,100 in 1999 to 27,100 in 2000. Significant decreases were reported in the number of applications submitted by citizens from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (-64%) and Somalia (-26%) (see Table 4).
Due to the sharp decrease in applications submitted by citizens from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during 2000, Iraq became the largest country of origin of asylum applicants in Europe in August 2000. In December 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the fifth largest country of origin of asylum-seekers (see Table 5). The distribution of the main asylum-seeker nationalities by asylum country is provided in Table 6.