CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 5 ASYLUMSEEKERS 2.8 MILLION PEOPLE WAITING FOR LIFE-CHANGING DECISIONS By the end of 2016, there were 2.8 million asylumseekers – people who are seeking international protection but whose refugee status is yet to be determined. 52 While this was a decrease from 2015, most of this change was due to statistical adjustments in South Africa and thus masked the underlying trend of an increasing population of asylum-seekers globally. Some 2.2 million individual applications for asylum or refugee status were submitted to States or UNHCR in 164 countries or territories in 2016, a reduction from 2015 when there were 2.4 million (Table 2). Of the provisional 53 total of 2.2 million asylum claims, an estimated 2.0 million were initial applications 54 lodged in ‘first instance’ procedures. The remaining 165,900 claims were submitted at second instance, including with courts or other appellate bodies. 55 In many countries, UNHCR has been invited to undertake refugee status determination. UNHCR offices in those countries registered 208,100 applications, of which 8,300 were on appeal. UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2016 N E W I N D I V I DUA L A SY LU M A PPLI C ATI O N S R E G I STE R E D 56 By receiving country57 As in 2015, Germany continued to be the largest recipient of new asylum applications, with 722,400 registered during 2016. This was a significant 52 Analysis of global levels and by country of asylum is based on individuals, with cases multiplied by the average number of persons per case. Analysis by country of origin is based on individuals and cases as reported by the country of asylum, since inflation factors are not available by country of origin. 53 Because some countries have not yet released all of their national asylum data at the time of writing, this figure is likely to be revised later this year. 54 The data for some countries may include a significant number of repeat claims, i.e. the applicant has submitted at least one previous application in the same or another country. 55 Statistical information on outcomes of asylum appeals and court proceedings is under-reported in UNHCR’s statistics, particularly in industrialized countries, because this type of data is often either not collected by States or not published openly. 56 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. 57 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. 39