The statistics repressent the following trends:

• In March 2012, 1770 applications for asylum were lodged in Belgium, which implies a decrease of 6 % in comparison with February 2012 and is the lowest number since January 2011.
• In March, the main countries of origin were Afghanistan (13,2% of the total number of applications), Guinea (9%), the DR Congo (6,5%), Russia (6%) and Kosovo (4,5%).
• In March, 1.867 were taken, 228 decisions to grant refugee status and 84 decisions granting subsidiary protection.

Note: these statistics concern files and not persons.

More background information and the data of previous months can be found on the CGRS website