Following Canada's new immigration system for refugee asylum seekers, the number of refugee asylum applicants has declined drastically.

"On average, 164 foreigners are claiming asylum weekly in 2013, down nearly 70 per cent from the average weekly claim for the past five years, which was 537," reported Globe and Mail citing senior government sources.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney Thursday announced that eight new countries were added to the list of the so called "safe" nations from which, the federal government is likely to reject the refugee asylum applicants more frequently. The expansion of the list to 35 was a part of the Canada's new rule which became effective December 15.

Canada believes that the 35 countries enjoy relatively more freedom and thereby better human rights record than the rest of the countries in the world.

The most dramatic fall in refugee claimants were from Hungary, which was previously the number one generator asylum seekers.

Since the enactment of the new rules, the number of applicants for the refugee asylum from Hungary decreased to seven from 353 last year.

In 2010, Canada gave immigration to 7033 refugees while in 2011, it granted immigration to 4821 refugees from China, Mexico and others. 

In 2012, Hungary, China, Croatia and Pakistan were the top sources of refugee applicants citing lack of political, economic and religious freedom back in their mother lands. However, in 2013 following the new system, China, Pakistan, Nigeria and Colombia are the top four sources of claims.

"Our new system provides protection more quickly to genuine refugees, while removing individuals whose claims are rejected from the country faster," the minister said in a press release.

"Faster processing of asylum claims from generally safe countries is an essential feature of Canada's new faster and fairer refugee system," he added. 

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