The year saw a major surge in the numbers requesting asylum and spiking 44% year-on-year to represent a record number of 626,000 asylum seekers.


By country, Syria represented the largest single source country with 122,800 refugees, or 20% of the total, seeking safe haven followed by Afghanistan, 41,300 or 7% and then Kosovo, 37,900 or 6% of the overall total.


The countries receiving the most requests in 2014 were led by Germany (202,700 requests for asylum, 32% of the EU total and 2.5 per thousand inhabitants), followed by Sweden (81,200, 13% of the total and 8.4 per thousand inhabitants) and Italy (64,600, 10% of the total and 1.1 per thousand inhabitants) and against an overall EU average of 1.2 per thousand inhabitants.


In Portugal, in the same year, there were 440 asylum requests, down from 500 in the previous year, 0.1% of the EU total and hence around 0.22 per thousand inhabitants.


Of the 440 requests, 155 involved citizens from the Ukraine with 25 apiece from Pakistan and Morocco.