In 2015, 1.26 million people sought asylum in the EU, which was double that of the number of 565,000 for 2014. Of the 1.26 million, 52 percent were recognized as refugees in the first instance while it had been 46 percent in 2014. The number of people who were recognized as refugees was 310,000, which was less than 0.1 percent of the EU Population. At the end of 2015, 1 Million applications were pending, which included numbers carried forward from the previous year.

Of the 2015 applicants, the route taken into the EU was the Eastern Mediterranean by about 885,000 of the 1.26 Million people while the Western Balkan route was taken by 764,000 people who were detected. Sweden received 155,000 applications which was 1.6 percent of its population. It accepted 30,000 people. Germany received 440,000 applications in 2015 which was 0.54 percent of its population. It gave positive decisions to 140,000 people.

In 2016, the number of applicants came down to 1.20 Million, down 4 percent from 2015. More than 60 percent of them, 722,000 people, applied in Germany. At the end of 2016, 1.1 Million applications were pending, with Germany having the highest at 602,000 pending applications.

In addition to one million forced refugees arriving to Europe via the Mediterranean, there was an additional flow of the refugees from Ukraine caused by the war between Ukraine and Russia that began in 2014 after Russia had violated Budapest memorandum and illegally annexed Crimea.
At the end of 2015 Ukraine accounted for more than a half of some 593,000 refugees from European countries. Figures provided by the Government of Ukraine list 1.6 million Ukrainians as being displaced.

Perhaps on the background of total global migration of 244 million this 300 000 is just a negligible number however it constitutes a significant qualitative factor worth mentioning. This is because once there is no progress in armed conflict resolution and conflict-torn Southeast ukrainian regions continue to be on the edge of humanitarian collapse, the number of refugees will only increase. Corruption in Ukraine will only contribute to deterioration of the situation as himanitarian aid would not reach its purposes. This is why it is so important for European politicians to understand that only by guarding its own borders and taking steps that could ease pressure on the state that is to blame in this conflict, Europe is constantly risking escalation of the armed conflict in and increased refugee flows from Ukraine.