Chapter 5 Figure 17 | Major recipient countries of new asylum applications | 2017-2018 United States of America* Peru Germany France Turkey Brazil Greece Spain Canada Italy 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 2018 New asylum applications (thousands) 350 2017 * Cases are multiplied by average number of persons per case. Turkey continued to receive individual asylum claims from nationalities other than Syrians who receive protection under the Government’s Temporary Protection Regulation. Turkey thus became the fifth largest recipient of new asylum claims with 83,800 submitted in 2018. (These figures pertain to claims submitted to UNHCR as of 10th September 2018, after which UNHCR Turkey phased out its role in registering foreigners wishing to apply for international protection and the Government of Turkey moved to a fully decentralized procedure for all persons seeking international protection.) Afghan asylum-seekers continued to submit the most claims in 2018 with 53,000, compared with 67,400 in 2017. Similarly, asylum claims from Iraqis remained the second most common and declined from 44,500 in 2017 to 20,000 in 2018. There were also 6,400 claims from Iranians. These three countries accounted for nearly all newly received individual asylum claims in Turkey (95 per cent). Greece saw a continuation of the trend of increasing new individual asylum claims from 57,000 in 2017 to 65,000 in 2018 (compared with 11,400 in 2015). As in previous years, the most common nationality of origin was Syrian (13,200), although this constituted a decrease from the 16,300 submitted in 2017, and thus represented a decreasing proportion of claims. In contrast, there were increases in claims submitted by Afghans (11,800 in 2018 and 7,500 in 2017) and Iraqis (9,600 in 2018 and 7,900 in 2017), the second and third most common nationalities of origin, respectively. Brazil received 80,000 applications in 2018 to become the sixth largest recipient of asylum claims, a rise from 33,800 in 2017 and 10,300 in 2016. Like Peru, Brazil also witnessed a steep increase in asylum applications from Venezuelans, who accounted for more than three quarters of such claims in 2018 (61,600). There were also 7,000 applicants from Haitians. Canada was the ninth largest recipient of new asylum claims with 55,400 registered in 2018, a small increase on the claims registered in 2017 (47,000). Nationals of Nigeria submitted the largest number (9,600). unhcr > Global trends 2018 During 2018, Spain received 55,700 new asylum claims, the eighth largest number globally and again a significant rise from 31,700 in 2017. The number of applications from Venezuelans, the most common nationality of origin, nearly doubled from 10,600 in 2017 to 20,000 in 2018. This was followed by Colombian applicants who also saw an increase from 2,500 in 2017 to 8,800 in 2018. The number of new asylum applications in Italy more than halved to 48,900 in 2018, making it the tenth largest recipient of asylum claims. Pakistanis submitted the most applications with 7,300, followed 43