Asylum applications down 25%

Between 2012 and 2013, the number of asylum applications in Belgium fell by 25%, according to the annual report of the Federal Migration Centre. At the same time, the overall number of asylum seekers in the European Union rose by 30 percent. Belgium is the only EU country where the number of asylum applications has decreased.

Some 28,285 applications were made for asylum in Belgium in 2012. A year later, the figure had dropped to 21,225. Most asylum seekers in Belgium come from Afghanistan, Guinea, DR Congo, Russia and Syria.

The report points out that "asylum seekers form only a small percentage of the total number of immigrants who arrive each year in our country.”