For a while and because the
public debate in Austria is dominated by this topic I have sought a way to
compare the burden of asylum seekers on respective European countries in a
simple statistic that is reactive to the fast changing trends in these
numbers. I propose the following statistic: the annualized monthly rate
of asylum applications per million inhabitants (AMAPMI).
AMAPMI = monthly asylum applications *12 / inhabitants (million)
Applying this formula to the
latest data for the average of the first quarter of 2015 (asylum applications
and population data downloaded from Eurostat
website) gives the following rank order of AMAPMI by European country, both EU
and outside EU, where data are available:
|
AMAPMI
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
AVG Q1 2015
|
|
|
1
|
Hungary
|
13,510
|
|
|
2
|
Sweden
|
5,511
|
|
|
3
|
Austria
|
4,857
|
|
|
4
|
Germany
|
4,140
|
|
|
5
|
Malta
|
3,784
|
|
|
6
|
Switzerland
|
2,258
|
|
|
7
|
Luxembourg
|
2,210
|
|
|
8
|
Cyprus
|
2,181
|
|
|
9
|
Belgium
|
1,842
|
|
|
10
|
Bulgaria
|
1,761
|
|
|
11
|
Liechtenstein
|
1,645
|
|
|
12
|
Norway
|
1,340
|
|
|
13
|
Denmark
|
1,111
|
|
|
14
|
Greece
|
1,077
|
|
|
15
|
Italy
|
1,039
|
|
|
16
|
France
|
990
|
|
|
17
|
Finland
|
729
|
|
|
18
|
Netherlands
|
720
|
|
|
19
|
Iceland
|
563
|
|
|
20
|
Ireland
|
546
|
|
|
21
|
United Kingdom
|
472
|
|
|
22
|
Poland
|
191
|
|
|
23
|
Spain
|
175
|
|
|
24
|
Czech Republic
|
166
|
|
|
25
|
Estonia
|
151
|
|
|
26
|
Slovenia
|
107
|
|
|
27
|
Lithuania
|
100
|
|
|
28
|
Latvia
|
88
|
|
|
29
|
Romania
|
70
|
|
|
30
|
Portugal
|
68
|
|
|
31
|
Croatia
|
61
|
|
|
32
|
Slovakia
|
44
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What immediately becomes apparent is the extreme imbalance
in the burden of the asylum driven immigration into different EU countries.
Austria, on this measure (AMAPMI) takes in as many as 48 times as many asylum
seekers as Lithuania and more than 10 times as many as the United Kingdom.
It is clear data that the current system
of “laissez faire” distribution of asylum driven immigration in Europe is
extremely lacking in European solidarity and is basically morally bankrupt, because it introduces a disproportionate burden on different countries in the European Union.
The logical political consequence, in my opinion, has to be to abolish the Schengen agreement, to
introduce strict border controls and to install and mandatory distribution
system of asylum seekers in relation to population size.