First time asylum claims in the EU, 2015

In Europe, the year 2015 will arguably be remembered as the year of the ‘refugee crisis’ . More than 1 200 000 people, including over 100 000 children, entered the
EU in search of safety and a better life, with over 136 000 more arriving since the beginning of 2016. The effective integration of recently arrived and long-standing
immigrants is a complex multidimensional process with educational, labour-market and social facets. Successful integration matters, not least because it is an economic necessity and a pre-condition for democratic stability and social cohesion.