Over 700,000 asylum seekers got status in the EU

luxembourg - The 28 Member States of the European Union gave 710,400 people a protected status last year, a big doubling over 2015. The Netherlands provided nearly 22,000 people with asylum or protection, an increase of 28 percent.

This is reflected on Wednesday by figures from the Eurostat statistical agency. It was mainly Syrians (57 percent), followed by Iraqis and Afghans (both 9 percent) and Eritreans (5 percent). Germany was by far 60% of the total by far the largest asylum provider in the EU. The Netherlands is ranked sixth, after Sweden, Italy, France and Austria.

The 28 countries provided a status of 1390 people per million inhabitants. The Netherlands was slightly below that with 1285. Sweden was according to the calculation by more than 7000 the leader, followed by Germany and Austria. Eastern European countries, but also Portugal, are at the bottom of the ranking.