Number of Asylum Seekers Doubles In Sweden

According to the Swedish Migration Board the figure doubled to over 36,000 compared to the year before. Around half of the applicants came from Iraq while the number of Somalis coming to the country trebled.

Of the 3,300 Somalis who applied for asylum last year, almost all received approval on their first application to the board, while 93 percent of Iraqis were accepted. In addition, over 1000 people registered themselves as ‘stateless’, with the majority coming from Palestine.

There was also a sharp rise in applicants from Eritrea and Serbia while numbers from Bolivia fell.

In response to the increase, the government is laying out fresh plans to determine where the newly arrived immigrants can live when they get to Sweden. The proposed new laws will mean immigrants will have to live where there are jobs available rather than moving to areas in bigger towns where they have relatives or where there is already a high concentration of people from their own country.

© Copyright Sveriges Radio 2008,