Canada has remained at the bottom of the world’s top-15 refugee receiving countries, according to the UNHCR annual asylum trends report.

Worldwide, 866,000 new asylum claims were lodged last year — a 45 per cent increase from 2013, the highest level since 1992 at the beginning of the Balkan conflicts, said the United Nations report to be released in Geneva Thursday.

Syrians were by far the largest group among those seeking asylum in 2014, with 150,000 claims, or one-fifth of the total. Iraqis came second, accounting for 68,700 applications, double the number in 2013. Both countries are at war with Islamic State group extremists.

“In the 1990s, the Balkan wars created hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers. Many of them found refuge in industrialized countries. Today, the surge in armed conflicts around the world presents us with similar challenges,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

“Our response has to be just as generous now as it was then — providing access to asylum, resettlement opportunities and other forms of protection for the people fleeing these terrible conflicts.”

In 2014, Canada received 13,500 asylum claims, about one-third more than the year before. In comparison, Sweden, a small Nordic country with 9.6 million people and a quarter of Canada’s population, admitted 75,100 refugees last year.

The increase of claims in Canada was attributed to the significant drop in 2013, after Ottawa overhauled the refugee determination system in a bid to deter fraud and discourage asylum seekers from coming here.

Canada has continued to rank at the bottom of the world’s top 15 refugee receiving countries, from a high of fifth in the world five years ago.

“This can potentially be the result of reforms of law and asylum policies and the introduction of visa requirements for some nationalities,” the 28-page report said.

Between 2010 and 2014, Germany received the largest number of new asylum-seekers (434,300 claims), followed by the United States (403,300), France (274,500), Sweden (234,700), and Turkey (184,300).

While most western countries saw increases in refugees, some registered a decline, notably Australia, where numbers went down 24 per cent, to less than 9,000 in 2014, with its stringent asylum system.

What’s also noteworthy, the UN report said, is that Russia also reported 265,400 temporary asylum requests, including 5,800 from Ukrainians. In 2014, a total of 15,700 people fled Ukraine for asylum in 44 major refugee-receiving countries, up from 1,400 in 2013.

Top-15 refugee receiving countries

Rank in 2014 (in 2013)

1. Germany (1)

2. USA (2)

3. Turkey (5)

4. Sweden (4)

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5. Italy (7)

6. France (3)

7. Hungary (9)

8. UK(6)

9. Austria (10)

10. Holland (11)

11. Switzerland (8)

12. Serbia (20)

13. Denmark (18)

14. Belgium (14)

15. Canada (16)

Source: UNHCR

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