JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Some 330,700 people fled the wars in Syria and Iraq and other major conflicts during the first half of 2014 to seek asylum in more stable places, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it expects the total number for the year to swell to 700,000, based on data received from 44 industrialized nations and a tendency to see higher numbers of asylum seekers during the second half of each year. That would be the highest registered by governments in Europe, North America and parts of the Asia-Pacific region in about 20 years, it said. It would be a level not seen since the 1990s Balkans wars.

The biggest numbers came from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea. More than two-thirds of the refugees were taken in by six countries: Germany, the United States, France, Sweden, Turkey and Italy. By contrast, there were declining numbers flowing to Central Europe, particularly Hungary and Poland, and to Australia.

In 2013, the agency said 612,700 people applied for asylum in the 44 nations and 51.2 million were forcibly displaced either within their own countries or as refugees in states bordering war zones.

___

U.N. report: http://www.unhcr.org/5423f9699.html

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.