The bar chart illustrates university applicants from all over the world for one European university between 2004 and 2008.
Overall, the proportion of Japanese and USA students showed an increase all times, while Chinese applicants went down throughout the period and Russia always remained steadily.
In the beginning of the period, China played an important role with the approximately 27,000 participants. However, these numbers decreased dramatically within one year and become just above 20,000 members. In 2006 and 2007 applicants remained stable around 18,000 and in the end of the period it fell slightly and become just above 15,000.
By contrast, USA applicants followed an upward trend. The number of students from the USA began at around 13,000 in 2004 and rose steadily over the next years, reaching approximately 18,000 in 2006. This figure continued to climb, hitting just over 22,000 in 2007 and peaking at about 27,000 in 2008, making the USA the largest source of international applicants by the end of the period.
Japanese students also experienced a moderate increase. Their numbers stood at around 7,000 in 2004 and grew gradually to roughly 10,000 by 2008, despite small fluctuations in the intervening years. Russia had the lowest figures throughout the period, starting with nearly 3,000 applicants and rising slightly to around 5,000 by 2008, showing only a minimal upward trend.