Charlie Smith
ANDALUCIA has received over 4,000 asylum applications so far in 2019.
Data for the first five months of this year reveals that there were 4,298 applicants in Spain’s southernmost region.
The country as a whole meanwhile saw 46,596 asylum applications so far this year.
Topping the list were Venezuelans, with 16,846 applications to Spain, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
That is compared to the 20,015 from the South American country who sought protection in Spain during the same period in 2018.
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It comes as 4 million people have fled the country in total since 2015, in a bid to escape the economic and humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
This was represented in the asylum data, as applications to Spain increased by 603% from 596 in 2015 to 4,195 in 2016.
Columbian asylum applications also increased this year to 10,122 from 8,811 in 2018, meaning the country has the second highest number in Spain.
Other South and Central American countries follow in third, fourth and fifth: Nicaragua (2,698), Honduras (2,666) and El Salvador (2,078).
Of Spain’s total of 46,596 asylum applications, 25,602 are men and 20,994 are women.
The most represented age group among applicants is 18-34 years old (23,729) and the second most is 35-64 years old (13,545).
Andalucia had the third most asylum applications so far this year after Madrid with 20,395 and Catalunya with 6,059.
