NUMBER OF ASYLUM APPLICATIONS DECLINES

Austria Today
December 12, 2007 Wednesday 2:27 PM (Central European Time)

The interior ministry has reported that the number of asylum
applications in Austria during the first eleven months of the year
declined by 12.2 per cent from 12,143 in the same period last year
to 10,667 this year. Russians accounted for 2,129 applications,
Serbs for 1,624, Afghans for 667, Turks for 606, Moldovans for 542,
Iraqis for 435, Somalians for 415, Georgians for 375, Armenians for
372 and Nigerians for 364. The number of applications fell by a third
between 2002 and 2006. Tougher asylum regulations apparently account
in part for the decline in the number of applications.