Serbia (with Kosovo) was the third largest source country of asylum-seekers during the first half of 2011, behind Afghanistan and China, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its latest overview of asylum levels and trends in industrialized countries.

UNHCR said that “the main countries of origin of asylum-seekers remained largely unchanged from previous surveys: Afghanistan (15,300 claims), China (11,700 claims), Serbia [and Kosovo: Security Council Resolution 1244] (10,300 claims).”

Iraq (10,100 claims) and Iran (7,600 claims) followed Serbia.

By number of asylum claims submitted in major receiving countries, the United States was the first (36,400), followed by France with (26,100), Germany (20,100), Sweden (12,600) and the United Kingdom (12,200).