Germany, Sweden, France, and Italy last year accounted for almost two-thirds of all positive decisions on asylum claims in the EU.
The figures, released on Tuesday (12 May) by the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat, say 185,000 people were granted protection in 2014, up almost 50 percent on to 2013.
Around a third are Syrians, with most ending up in either Germany or Sweden.
The figures put into perspective a controversial proposal by the European Commission to impose a mand...
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.