Britain tops EU asylum seekers' list

London, June 30 (IANS) Britain granted asylum to more people than any other European Union (EU) country last year, official figures show.

Some 14,360 immigrants were given asylum within the UK in 2011, compared with 13,045 in Germany, the second highest country, and 10,740 in third placed France.

The figure was the third successive rise in successful claims in Britain and an increase of 41 percent since 2008, Daily Mail reported Friday.

Britain also approved more than a third of asylum applications last year, while France accepted fewer than one in seven claims and Germany around one in five.

Refugees fleeing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repressive regime in Iran made up the largest group granted asylum in Britain, with 1,985 given protection status in 2011.

Another 1,160 came from Sri Lanka and around 1,020 from Afghanistan, the figures from Eurostat, the statistical wing of the EU, revealed.

The number of people granted asylum in Britain has grown steadily in the last four years, from 10,200 in 2008 to 14,360 last year, the newspaper said.