The bar chart provided illustrates the figure for students in four disparate regions who enrolled in European universities over a period of 5 years. Overall, it is evident that the number of Japanese and American and Russian applicants experienced an upward trend, while the opposite was true for the remainder.
Looking at the details, roughly 30,000 Chinese students chose to study abroad in Europe in 2004, far surpassing the four countries. This figure witnessed a substantial decrease of more than 5,000 students in 2005 prior to leveling off at about 18,000 applicants over a span of two years. Despite this stable development, the number of Chinese applicants declined modestly to just above 15,000 students in 2008. Russia, in contrast, retained the least dominant position with its figure fluctuating around 3,000 students from 2004 to 2008, ending the period at approximately 4,000 students.
Concerning the other nations, European universities attracted nearly 15,000 American students in 2004. Following this, this figure rose steeply from above 15,000 in 2005 to roughly 25,000 students in 2007 before peaking at approximately 30,000 in 2008. Furthermore, after a fluctuation of around 5,000 students between 2004 and 2006, the number of Japanese students saw a rocketing trend to 10,000 applicants in 2008.
To sum up, while the USA had the highest number of students applying to European universities, the lowest figure was documented in Russia.