Nearly 12 thousand asylum requests in October

According to figures released by Statistics Netherlands today, the number of newly registered asylum seekers and family members joining asylum seekers in the Netherlands rose to 11.7 thousand in October, more than in any previous month. The total in September was 8.4 thousand.

10 thousand are first requests

In October 2015,  a total of 11.7 thousand asylum seekers and family members joining were registered in the Netherlands. The number of first asylum requests rose sharply again to 10 thousand. In October, there were 1.8 thousand family members who joined asylum seekers, a lower number than in September (2.0 thousand). Until August of this year, the busiest month ever was May 1999, when the Netherlands received 5.2 thousand asylum requests <toelichting>, mainly from former Yugoslavia.

Over half is from Syria

Out of all asylum seekers and family members registered in October, 6.4 thousand came from Syria. These included 5.3 thousand first asylum requests, 29 percent more than in September. There were 1.2 thousand Syrian family members joining asylum seekers, similar to September. The influx of asylum seekers from Iraq has increased to slightly over one thousand.

Over 45 thousand asylum seekers and family members up to end of October

Adding the new influx, the total number of first asylum requests and family members for 2015 has reached 45.2 thousand, over 18 thousand more than in the whole year 2014. Included in this total are 11.7 thousand people who made use of the opportunity to join their family members.

Further details can be found in the (Dutch) Dossier Asielzoekers.