In the last five years, the number of asylum-seekers arriving in all industrialized countries has fallen by half, according to preliminary annual figures released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who said this trend should spark reflection in the industrialized world about the fate of those in need of protection. Asylum applications in 50 industrialized countries fell sharply for the fourth year in a row in 2005, reaching their lowest level in almost two decades, the agency said, attributing this to more stable situations in many areas of the world but also to increasingly restrictive asylum policies.