European asylum statistics for August 1999

The number of asylum applications lodged in August in the 17 European countries for which figures are available dropped by 12% when compared with July. In August there were 25,250 asylum applications, compared with 28,590 in July. The main receiving countries were Germany (which received 35% of all applications), the Netherlands (14%) and Switzerland and France (11% each).

Applications from citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Kosovars, constituted just 23.7% of all applications in August, down from 35.7% in July. The most dramatic decrease in a major asylum country was in Switzerland, where asylum applications from Yugoslav citizens fell by nearly 64% in August to 1,505, down from 4,160 in July.