The United States now gets more requests for asylum than any location around the world, overtaking Germany for the top spot, Politico reported.
The United Nations Refugee Agency released a report Tuesday, which showed a 27 percent increase in 2017 in new applications to the U.S. for asylum, the first time since 2012 that the U.S. has been the largest recipient.
Asylum requests in Germany, meanwhile, dropped 73 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to Politico.
Forced displacement hit a high mark in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, the report said, including 25.4 million refugees and 40 million internally displaced people, the website noted.
"We are at a watershed, where success in managing forced displacement globally requires a new and far more comprehensive approach so that countries and communities aren't left dealing with this alone," said Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the report said.
Turkey contains the highest number of refugees, with 3.5 million total, mostly Syrians, while Lebanon has the highest amount of refugees relative to its population — 164 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, the UN report said.
Asylum seekers are forming long lines at the U.S.-Mexico border, with wait times of a few hours or longer.
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