ASYLUM-SEEKER numbers in Spain broke all records in 2016, with 15,755 people applying for refugee status.
Around 43.5%, or a total of 6,855 have been accepted so far and 3,395, or 21.6%, declined.
The remaining 5,505 are still waiting to hear whether their applications will be successful.
Asylum seekers granted refugee status have soared, showing a great improvement on the average in the first 10 to 15 years of this century when a typical seven in 10 were rejected and deported – a number similar to that of the UK.
But only 355 of those accepted have been given full refugee status – the remaining 6,500 were given a form of 'subsidiary' protection, which is inferior and less stable, a number the Spanish Refugee Council considers 'pathetic'.
Of those who hoped to gain a safe haven in Spain last year, 90% are Syrian – of the 6,855 asylum applications approved, 6,215 were from residents of the Middle Eastern country fleeing the civil war.
The remaining 10% are mostly from the Ukraine and Venezuela.
Elsewhere in Europe, the highest numbers of refugees taken in have been in Sweden, Germany and France – the latter two have granted full protection status to 41% and 21% respectively, although this is only part of the story and many more may have been given 'subsidiary' forms of shelter.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com/