Refugee Waves and Crime: Evidence from EU Countries

Abstract

The European Union has experienced a major refugee crisis in the last few years. The total number of individuals with recognized refugee status who reside in one of the EU15 countries increased from approximately 1 million in 2014 to 1.8 million in 2016. Over the same period, the number of asylum applications received by EU15 countries increased from 500,000 in 2014 to more than 1 million in 2015 and to 1.1 million in 2016, reaching an unprecedented 2.6 million applications submitted in just three years.