Sangatte asylum centre

The public is vastly overestimating the number of asylum seekers attempting to enter the UK, according to a poll published on Monday.

As refugee week begins, the survey reveals that found country believes that Britain is home to one in four of the world's asylum seekers - compared to the real figure of just two per cent.

The survey is supported by Amnesty International, the Refugee Council, Refugee Action and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

It found that members of the public were four times more likely to be sympathetic towards asylum seekers than they were to be negative or hostile.

But fewer than one in five young people would weclome refugees - compared with over on in four adults generally.

The chief executive of the Refugee Council, Nick Hardwick, said the public - and the young in particular - had to be educated about the issues.

"Clearly, a lot of work still needs to be done to raise awareness among children about who refugees are and why they flee and we see a major solution being better integration in schools,'' he said.

"Discriminating against refugee children and removing them from mainstream education can surely only have a negative impact on children's attitudes to refugees."