In a news release on data related to asylum, Eurostat displayed that 580.845 first-time asylum seekers applied for international protection in the Member States of the EU in 2018. That number is down by 11% in comparison with 2017 (654.600) and almost by 50% with 2015 (1.256.600), the year in which the migration crisis in the Mediterranean peaked. The main citizenships of first-time asylum applicants were Syrian (80.900), Afghan (41.000) and Iraqi (39.600), making up almost 30% of all applicants, in line with the trends from previous years. In 2018, 161.900 first-time applicants registered in Germany, which accounts for 28% of all first-time applicants in the EU Member States, followed by France (19%), Greece (11%), Spain (9%) and Italy (8%).