No matter what level of development, freedom or technological advancement we reach, some parts of the world will always be in disorder and 6 Easiest Countries To Seek Asylum might be a helpful list if you’re currently in one of these. They often change places on the global map, depending on various geopolitical factors, but we can safely say that a healthy chunk of Africa, parts of Asia, South and Central America, some parts of Europe (mostly eastern) and the Middle East will remain endangered for years to come. As already mentioned, asylum seekers exist thanks to many great reasons that span from country’s or region’s political instability, over different kinds of persecution, all the way to military conflicts. This picture might seem gloomy, but we can safely say that “world peace” is just a phrase used in Miss Universe competitions, and that we’ll never actually achieve one. That’s why asylum seekers will always be around. It’s not their fault for exhibiting the need to protect their loved ones and offer them the opportunity for a better quality of life than which they could have had at home.
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Some countries in the world have been known to openly accept immigrants, and here’s the list of 10 Easiest Countries to Immigrate To which take the biscuit in this category. However, immigrating to another country and seeking asylum aren’t the same things. In order to immigrate, you usually need to fulfill a number of prerequisites and conditions. People that are immigrating generally do that on purpose and with a plan. Those seeking asylum are usually less fortunate than that. As mentioned above, their country might have been torn apart by war. They could have been persecuted on a number of bases e.g. racial, national, political or religious persecutions. With that in mind, people looking for asylum often don’t have any reasonable choice and have to try their luck abroad.
Seeking asylum and getting one, however, are different things. While asylum seekers aren’t required to possess visas or work permits to enter desired country, like legal immigrants; their chance for a brighter future is still uncertain, to say the least, even after they enter the country in which they intend to look for the asylum. Asylum approval can be lengthy process and depends on local laws. Furthermore, asylum seekers without valid grounds for getting one usually stand very little chance of actually being granted the asylum. Getting rejected spells certain and prompt deportation, and agony of returning to the country of their origin and facing all the reasons for running away, yet again.
Asylum seekers will, thus probably ask themselves: “Which are the easiest countries to seek asylum in”? That’s a good question indeed, and unanimous answer can’t be given just like that. There are myriad of elements which should be considered while trying to give the best answer on the given topic. For instance, some countries have the culture of accepting both immigrants and asylum seekers for years and even decades. Some of the countries are popular due to their proximity to unstable countries or regions from which the asylum seekers are being emitted. Some countries could offer great conditions of life, and even highly flexible asylum approval policy, but they can be thousands of miles away from the emitting regions. Finally, one has to take into account a number of other factors like intended country’s political and economic stability, religious structure, system of values, culture, liberal and open-minded view of inhabitants and many other. Developed countries usually have the educated, emphatic and open-minded population which tends to accept both the immigrants and asylum seekers the best.
With all this taken into account, we’ll try to provide the most relevant and concise answer on the topic of 6 easiest countries to seek asylum in. We have used the relevant info from a number of well-respected and relevant sources like The World Bank, CNN, The Guardian and Statista. However, you have to take into account all of the aforementioned. This means that things usually change more often than not, and that easiest countries to get into through asylum seeking from a few years ago could now have much more strict policy. In order to fully understand our choice, we’ll provide you with the relevant info used to determine the overall score. This link will give you the insight into the number of asylum seekers in 2014, by country. Not everything is black and white, however. Some countries are smaller and they absorb more asylum seekers per capita than most of larger ones. Here’s the list of the number of asylum seekers per 1,000 of population in 2014, by country. The Guardian has taken their list from Eurostat, and while this list entirely excludes non-EU countries, you’ll notice the similar pattern as that from Statista. Finally, to cut the long story short, here’s the list of 6 easiest countries to seek asylum in.
6. France
France is a the second largest country in Europe after Ukraine (not counting the European part of Russia) with the area measuring 213,010 square miles. It is fourth most populous European country as well, with total population of more than 67 million. With healthy percentage of population being former immigrants themselves, it is clear to see why France is one of the countries where people traditionally seek asylum. Almost 60,000 asylum seekers have been registered in France during the year 2014, 15,000 of which have been given asylum which translates to 25% of successful asylum applications.
5. The Netherlands
The Netherlands or simply Holland is a rather small country with an area of only 16,033 square miles, but with the population of almost 17 million and overall density of 1,055.5 people per square mile. Over 20% inhabitants of The Netherlands are foreigners which is the result of Holland’s colonial past and open-minded population. Almost 24,000 people have applied for asylum in Holland during 2014 and more than 50% of them have been granted one.
4. Italy
Being one of the closest fully developed EU countries to the crisis areas, Italy has received almost 65,000 applications for asylum over the course of the year 2014. More than 20,000 permits have been granted which amounts to around 32%. Being the sixth most populous country in Europe with over 60 million inhabitants, and tenth largest one with 116,347 square miles, Italy’s result looks a little bit less impressive than that of The Netherlands. Still, the numbers don’t lie and Italy has accepted much more asylum seekers than Holland which puts it in front on the list of 6 easiest countries to seek asylum.
3. Switzerland
Only non-EU country on the list, Switzerland boasts with one of the highest European standards of life. With an area of only 15,940 square miles and population of only slightly over 8 million, 15,500 accepted asylum seekers looks impressive. Even more impressive is the percentage of approved asylum applications which amounts to 70%. Swiss open-mindedness and level of development certainly helps in making the population receptive towards both immigrants and asylum seekers. Furthermore, Switzerland itself boasts with no less than four official languages which further adds to their multi-cultural values.
2. Germany
By looking at percentages, it might not look like the Germany deserves number 2 spot in our list. Less than 25% asylum applications were successful, but gross numbers give us a different picture. Almost 175,000 people have applied for the asylum in Germany during 2014 which makes this Central European country the leader of developed World. More than 40,000 people have been granted the asylum in Germany and they will join more than 81 million of country’s current inhabitants.
1. Sweden
Leader not only among traditionally emphatic Scandinavian countries, but among the countries from the rest of the world, Sweden has accepted over 30,000 asylum seekers or almost 41%, last year. A total number of applicants amounts to 75,000, which doesn’t seem much compared to Germany. However, with the population just shy of 10 million, Sweden has received 7.8 asylum application forms per 1,000 inhabitants. In comparison, second best country on the list in this category is Switzerland with 2.7 asylum seekers per country’s 1,000 inhabitants.
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It has to be noted that this list of 6 Easiest Countries To Seek Asylum has been compiled using the latest and, currently, most relevant statistical data. The United Kingdom, Denmark and Norway have accepted between 30% and 40% of total asylum seekers, and Belgium has accepted almost 60%. However, their distance from current critical regions and other parameters have swayed us into compiling the list the way we did. Overall numbers have spoken, but differences were sometimes minimal.
