The war in Syria – unleashed by Assad’s bloody crackdown on protests in 2011 – helped spark a migrant crisis that saw over one million people arrive in Europe in 2015.
The following year, EU nations granted refugee status to more than 215,000 applicants, while nearly 185,000 received subsidiary protection – meaning they do not qualify as refugees but are considered at risk of serious harm if returned to their country of origin.
The vast majority of the nearly 128,500 applications by Syrian nationals decided at first instance between January and October this year resulted in some form of protection, the asylum agency data showed.
EU nations granted refugee status in just under 35,500 cases, while more than 81,800 applicants were granted subsidiary protection.
Germany, which has taken in the lion’s share of Syrian asylum seekers in Europe, accounted for almost half the positive decisions so far this year, the agency data showed.
