During 2018, the European Union member-states granted asylum to more than 300,000 persons, which was down by 40 percent compared to 2017, whereas Croatia granted protection to 155 asylum seekers, according to figures provided by the EU statistical office Eurostat on Thursday.

Almost 30 percent of the beneficiaries were Syrians, the EU reported on its web site.

“The 28 Member States of the European Union (EU) granted protection status to nearly 333 400 asylum seekers in 2018, down by almost 40 percent from 2017 (533 000). In addition to these, the EU Member States received over 24 800 resettled refugees.”

As many as 96,100 Syrians were provided with asylum, and they were followed by Afghans (53,500 or 16 percent of all the beneficiaries in 2018), and Iraqis (24,600 or 7 percent).

Last year, 80 Syrians, 35 Iraqis and 10 Iranians were given asylum in Croatia.

Of the 24,800 resettled refugees in the EU last year, Croatia received 110 from third countries.