Map 3 Main countries of origin of new asylum-seekers | 2009 Asylum applications 120,000 60,000 12,000 By nationality, the highest number of new asylum claims was filed by individuals originating from Zimbabwe (158,200), Myanmar (48,600), Eritrea (43,300), Ethiopia (42,500), Colombia (39,200), Afghanistan (38,900), and Somalia (37,900). See Map 3 below. As observed in previous years, these figures hide patterns of certain nationalities tending to cluster in a limited number of countries. For instance, nine out of ten Zimbabwean asylum claims were lodged in South Africa alone. Similarly, three-quarters of asylum claims lodged by citizens of Myanmar were registered in Malaysia while twothirds of all Eritrean requests were submitted in Ethiopia (17,300) and Sudan (10,200). In the case of Ethiopian asylum-seekers, Somalia (15,500 claims estimated by UNHCR), South Africa (10,700), and Kenya (9,500) were prime destination countries, accounting for 84 per cent of all new Ethiopian claims. Even though asylum-seekers from Colombia sought protection in more than 40 countries, eight out of ten applied for refugee status in Ecuador. Provisional figures indicate that some 585,500 decisions on individual asylum applications were rendered during 2009, a 7 per cent increase compared to 2008. UNHCR staff adjudicated 69,200, or 12 per cent of the total – a share similar to that of previous years. In 12 countries, including Ethiopia and Mauritania, close to 21,000 substantive decisions were taken jointly by UNHCR and the concerned State. These figures exclude cases which were closed for administrative reasons without taking a decision on the substance. (28) In 2009, some 158,300 cases were closed without a substantive decision issued to the applicant. It is important to note that the 2009 data on decisions is still incomplete as a few States have not released their official statistics. As a consequence, the 2009 decision data quoted in this report are not fully comparable with previous years. Some 274,500 asylum-seekers were recognized as refugees (225,100) or given a complementary form of protection (49,400) in the course of 2009. This number includes an estimated 15,800 (29) 28 Also labeled as “non-substantive” decisions which might result from, among others, the death of the applicant, no-show for interview, withdrawal of the application, abandonment of the claim, or the determination that another country is responsible for the claim (‘Dublin II’ procedure). 29 This figure is likely to be substantially higher, as a significant number of decisions rendered by States at the appeal or review stage of the asylum procedure has not yet been released. 18 2009 Global Trends