The number of asylum seeks who were accepted into the EU last year rose to 135,700, up from 116,200 in 2012.
In the last five years, more than 570,000 asylum seeks have been granted protection in one of the EU’s 28 member countries.
The numbers had been stable at some 80,000 per year through 2008, 2009 and 2010. In mid-2011, however, the numbers began to rise rapidly.
Only 135 refugees were granted asylum or other protection in Portugal in 2013. This was the lowest number in any western European country and lower than many former eastern European nations.
Only six nations accepted fewer: Estonia 10, Croatia 25, Latvia 35, Lithuania 60, Slovenia 40 and Slovakia 75.
Even Romania and Bulgaria, long viewed as places of escape, accepted larger numbers, namely 1,840 and 2,495 respectively.
The three countries from which most of Portugal’s applicants came were Guinea, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Across Europe, Syrians formed the largest group (26%), followed by Afghanis (12%) and Somalis (7%).
More than 60% of the Syrians were protected by Sweden and Germany.
Three-quarters of the Afghanis went to Germany, Austria, Sweden, Italy and Belgium.
The largest number of people found protection in Sweden (26,400), Germany (26,100), France (16,200), Italy (14,500) and the UK (13,400).
Together these five countries absorbed 70% of those granted protection status.
The UK and other countries accept other immigrants as well, but the figures clearly demonstrate that the UK has only the fifth highest acceptance rate.
