Asylum requests fall in developed countries: OECD

Developed countries received sharply fewer asylum applications last year, a report said Wednesday, as the world remains gripped in a migrant crisis fuelled by wars and economic hardship.

Applications for asylum in the 36-country Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) dropped 34 percent to 1.09 million last year from 1.65 million in 2016, which marked the height of the migrant flow to Europe.

"Because of the drop in asylum applications, the number of registered refugees also declined," said the OECD -- from about 900,000 permits issued in 2016 to 700,000 in 2017.

Refugees represented 14 percent of permanent migrants in the OECD last year, the report said.

Most were from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Venezuela.

Despite the decline in asylum seekers, humanitarian migration remained at a "historically high level, said the bloc, whose members come from Europe, the Americas and the Pacific -- many of them, including the United States, key migrant destinations.

"While it