(Local) The number of requests for asylum in Switzerland was down nearly a fifth in the first nine months of 2018 and at its lowest level since 2010.
A total of 11,484 people requested asylum in the country from January to June, down 17.5 percent on a year earlier, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).
That is the lowest figure for the first nine months of the year since 2010.
The SEM said the number was down on previous years because migration via the central Mediterranean route had decreased significantly and because Switzerland was no longer a primary destination country for asylum seekers who [were] entering Western Europe using this route.
