Végh said asylum requests have risen from 2,157 in 2012 to 18,900 in 2013 and 42,777 last year. In addition, over 3,000 such applications have been submitted this year.

More than half of the asylum seekers had fled their homeland for economic reasons, including poor social care and harsh living conditions, typically from Kosovo.

Half of the applicants last year came from Kosovo, 20% from Afghanistan and 16% from Syria, among 79 countries.

Roughly 95% of the refugees illegally cross the border from Serbia and apply for asylum when they encounter border police.

Only 503 applicants, barely more than 1% of the total, were granted asylum, and 10% of the applications were rejected.

In half of the cases, the applicants leave Hungary by the time the assessment process is completed, as Hungary is a transit country, Végh said.

The Immigration and Citizenship Office spent Ft 1.1 billion on refugees in 2012, rising to Ft 1.8 billion in 2013 and Ft 2.6 billion last year.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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MTI photo: Koszticsák Szilárd