Most of the asylum applicants considered unaccompanied minors in the EU Member States were Afghans (51% of the total number of unaccompanied minors registered in 2015). Of the 45 300 Afghans considered unaccompanied minors in the EU in 2015, more than half were registered in Sweden (23 400). Afghans represented the most numerous citizenship of asylum seekers considered unaccompanied minors in fifteen EU Member States. Syria (16% of the total number of unaccompanied minors) was the second main country of citizenship of asylum seekers considered unaccompanied minors in the EU Member States in 2015. Of the 14 300 Syrians seeking protection in the EU Member States and considered unaccompanied minors in 2015, 7 in 10 applied in: Germany, Sweden and Hungary.
Data on asylum are provided to Eurostat by the Ministries of Interior, Justice or immigration agencies of the Member States according to the provisions of Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection............................
The largest shares of unaccompanied minors among all young asylum applicants in 2015 were recorded notably in Italy (where 56.6% of all asylum applicants aged less than 18 were unaccompanied in 2015) and Sweden (50.1%), followed by the United Kingdom (38.5%), the Netherlands(36.5%), Denmark (33.7%), Finland (33.2%) and Bulgaria (33.1%). In total in the EU, unaccompanied minors accounted for almost a quarter (23.0% of all asylum applicants aged less than 18 in 2015......................................................................