Immigration Down

Immigration into countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries rose 11 percent in 2005, with family migration accounting for the largest increase, while asylum requests to the same countries slipped 15 percent compared to the year before, according to the OECD's annual International Migration Outlook report.

The entire OECD zone saw its number of legal permanent residents jump by 3.5-4.0 million in 2005 compared to 2004, the report said, adding that the United States had experienced the greatest increase, with 164,500 more legal immigrants than the year before, followed by

Britain (+55,000) and Italy (+31,000).

On the other end of the scale, Germany registered 13,000 fewer legal immigrants than in 2004, France had 5,200 fewer and Switzerland saw its immigration number slip by 2,000.

As for unauthorized immigration, the United States alone counted 620,000 illegal entries per year between 2000 and 2004, the OECD said.

In Europe, illegal immigrants account for one percent of the population, the group added.

The OECD meanwhile pointed out that in several European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Sweden, people immigrating on work permits represented between 30 and 40 percent of all permanent immigrants.

Asylum numbers down

The number of asylum seekers to OECD countries meanwhile continued to slide in 2005, with only 300,000 requests that year, or half of the 2000 level. Some 23 percent of the requests came from Africans.

In absolute terms, the number of asylum applications ticked in at 42,000 in France, followed by Britain and Germany with 30,000 each. But in relation to the population, Austria was the country to receive the most requests.