Chapter 5 Table 2 | New and appeal applications registered | 2012-2017* 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017* States 781,400 870,700 1,401,700 2,063,900 1,941,700 1,661,500 UNHCR 125,500 203,200 245,700 269,400 208,100 263,400 Jointly** 22,800 5,800 12,900 17,800 26,300 24,300 Total 929,700 1,079,700 1,660,300 2,351,100 2,176,100 1,949,100 % UNHCR only 13 19 15 11 10 14 * Provisional figures. ** Refers to refugee status determination conducted jointly by UNHCR and governments. were appeal or review applications. While the number of applications is still below the high seen in 2014, it represents a 28 per cent increase compared with 2016. New Individual Asylum Applications Registered 51 By receiving country 52 The United States of America was the largest recipient of new asylum applications, with 331,700 lodged in 2017 [Figure 14]. 53 This represents a 27 per cent increase from 2016 (262,000) and nearly double the number in 2015 (172,700), and is consistent with a steadily increasing number of asylum claims in the United States of America since 2013. In the United States of America, the trend of increasing asylum claims from people originating from the North of Central America (NCA) 54 also continued. Similar to last year, applicants from the NCA made up 43 per cent of all claims, and the number of claims increased by 44 per cent, reaching levels not seen since the 1980s. Salvadorans made up the largest nationality of applicants with 49,500 claims, almost half again as much as the 33,600 submitted in 2016. Guatemalans and Hondurans were the next largest groups with 35,300 and 28,800 claims in 2017, respectively. Claims from Venezuelans increased by 63 per cent to 29,900, reflecting the challenging conditions in the country. Other nationalities from which there were more than 5,000 claims in 2017 were Mexico (26,100), China (17,400), Haiti (8,600), and India (7,400). Altogether claims were received from nationals from 168 countries. Germany was no longer the largest recipient of new 40 asylum applications, witnessing a sharp decline in applications from the previous two years. In 2017, 198,300 new applications were registered, a 73 per cent decline from the 722,400 claims in 2016 and less than half the number in 2015 (441,900). As in previous years, the largest number of asylum claims were from Syrians with 49,000 applications, less than one-fifth of the 266,300 claims received in 2016. While in 2016 claims from Syrians had represented 37 per cent of all claims, in 2017 this proportion declined to 25 per cent. In contrast to 2016, more Iraqis (21,900) applied for asylum in 2017 than Afghans (16,400). Applications from Iraqis declined 77 per cent compared with 2016, and applications from Afghans by 87 per cent. Other nationalities with significant numbers of new asylumseekers in Germany were Eritrea (10,200), the Islamic Republic of Iran (8,600), Turkey (8,000), Nigeria (7,800), and Somalia (6,800). Italy remained the third-largest recipient of asylum claims in 2017 with 126,500 new applications, a small increase compared with 123,000 in 2016. As previously, Nigerians were the most common nationality applying for asylum with 25,100 applications, a small decline on the 27,100 in 2016. The next most common country of origin was Bangladesh with 12,200 applications – almost twice the 6,700 applications registered in 2016. Other new 51 Figures quoted in this section relate to new asylum applications lodged at the first instance. Appeal, court, repeat, or re-opened applications are excluded to the extent possible. 52 The number of applications reported for a country is based on individuals, with cases multiplied by an inflation factor when provided. Any further analysis by country of origin is based on individuals and cases, as inflation factors are not provided by country of origin. 53 Estimated number of individuals based on the number of new cases (138,800) and multiplied by 1.5 to reflect the average number of individuals per case (Source: US Department of Homeland Security); and number of new ‘defensive’ asylum requests lodged with the Executive Office of Immigration Review (123,400, reported by individuals). 54 El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras. unhcr > Global trends 2017