Azernews.Az

GENEVA – The number of asylum-seekers wanting to gain access in the industrialised world over the past 10 years has been decreasing, the UN refugee agency said in a media statement on Monday.

The report provided statistics collected from 44 industrialised countries.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) says that in 2010, about 358 800 asylum applications were lodged, five per cent less than in the previous year. Over the course of a decade, asylum seekers have dropped by nearly 50 per cent, the report said.

Of that total, Serbia has come out as the country at the very top of the list with the highest number of people seeking asylum, according to the report.

About eight per cent of the total asylum seekers in the world last year were Serbian, followed by Afghans, seven per cent, China, six per cent, Russian Federation and Somalia both with five per cent, and Iran, four. The rest of the world constituted the remaining 59 per cent.

The United States remains at the top of the most desired list, with about 55 530 applications in 2010, a 13 per cent increase from 2009, because of an increasing influx of Chinese and Mexican immigrants.

The US is followed by France in second place with about 48 000, Germany third with about 40 000 applications, Sweden fourth with just more than 30 000 applications and Canada fifth with about 25 000 applications, the UN report said.

The number of asylum seekers in 2011 is very likely to see a spike this year, because of the unrest across the Arabic world, and the civil war in Libya in particular.

A new wave with scores of immigrants are arriving on Italian shores as boats carrying civilians fleeing the war in Libya are headed for Italy, the BBC reported.

The region is already struggling to cope with a huge influx of migrants arriving from Tunisia.

Since January, more than 15 000 people have arrived on Italy's small island of Lampedusa.

In one night alone, more than 300 newcomers landed on the island. Local authorities fear that the resources and infrastructure of Lampedusa are being stretched to the very limit.

"Until now the only migrants to arrive in Lampedusa were Tunisians," Laura Boldrini, a spokeswoman for the UN's refugee agency, told the BBC.

"This is the first boat coming from Libya with people fleeing the military escalation, the vendettas and the retaliation attacks," she said.