Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union
1.2. Contact organisation unit
F2: Population and migration
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
7 April 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
7 April 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
21 October 2025
3.1. Data description
Data series on asylum applications contain statistical information based on Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 with reference to:
Asylum, first time and subsequent applicants by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors.
Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of reference period by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors.
Asylum applications withdrawn by age, sex, citizenship, type of withdrawal and status of minors.
Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors.
Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year.
Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by age, sex and citizenship.
Data are presented by country and aggregated for the European Union.
Data are rounded to the nearest 5.
3.2. Classification system
The classification of codes on the reporting country (GEO) and on the country of citizenship of asylum applicants (CITIZEN) corresponds to the ISO 3166 code-list (3166-1 alpha-2) with the exception of:
Greece where the code "EL" was adopted (instead of "GR") and
United Kingdom where the code "UK" was adopted (instead of "GB").
Classification
Eurostat breakdown
Age
0-13, 14-17, 18-34, 35-64, 65 and over, Unknown for asylum applicants and
0-13, 14-15, 16-17, Unknown for asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors
Sex
Male, Female, Unknown
Citizenship
ISO 3166 alpha-2
Status of minor
Unaccompanied minor, Accompanied minor, Unknown, Not applicable
Type of withdrawal
Explicit, Implicit, Unknown
3.3. Coverage - sector
Asylum migration - international protection statistics.
Application for international protection means request made by a third-country national or a stateless person for protection from a Member State, who can be understood to seek refugee status or subsidiary protection status, and who does not explicitly request another kind of protection, outside the scope of Directive 2011/95/EU, that can be applied for separately.
Concepts
Definitions
A01 Asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period.
A18 First-time asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period and applying for international protection for the first time.
A20 Subsequent asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted a subsequent application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period.
A02 Person subject of asylum application pending at the end of the month
Third-country national or stateless person who is a subject of application for international protection under consideration by the responsible national authority at the end of the month.
A03 Asylum application withdrawn
Application for international protection having been withdrawn during the reference period, disaggregated by explicit and implicit withdrawal.
A19 Asylum applicant having had application processed under accelerated procedure
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period and having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure.
A21 Applicant having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member and having benefited from material reception conditions providing an adequate standard of living for applicants.
Status of minor
The status of minor (person below the age of 18) applicant or person subject to asylum decision can be either accompanied or unaccompanied by an adult responsible for the minor during the asylum application procedure.
A10 Asylum applicant considered to be unaccompanied minor
An unaccompanied minor is a person aged less than 18 years who arrives on the territory of an EU Member State not accompanied by an adult responsible for the minor, or a minor who is left unaccompanied after having entered the territory of a Member State. The age of unaccompanied minors refers to the age accepted by the national authority, and, in some cases, the age determined by the age assessment procedure.
3.5. Statistical unit
All data explicitly refer to the number of persons. The data on asylum applications withdrawn are related to the number of persons rather than cases.
3.6. Statistical population
Statistical population for data on asylum applications are third-country nationals, i.e. any person who is not a citizen of the European Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty, including stateless persons. This data is released as Extra-EU citizenship.
Data providers may also provide asylum statistics relating to EU citizens, which refer to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - Protocol no 24 on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union (EUR-Lex - 12008E/PRO/24 - EN).
3.7. Reference area
EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro.
Croatia from January 2012.
Montenegro from January 2018.
United Kingdom until November 2020.
3.8. Coverage - Time
According Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, statistics on asylum applications have been collected since January 2008. Some other statistics or disaggregation were introduced later. (Statistics | Eurostat)
In addition, some statistics collected previously on a voluntary basis are available for the period 1985-2007. (Statistics | Eurostat)
Datasets
Complete data series
Data later or missing
A01 Asylum applicants
Data since January 2008 – BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH (30)
HR – since January 2013,
ME – since January 2018 (before not applicable),
UK – from January 2009 to November 2020 (before and after not applicable). (3)
A18 First-time asylum applicants
Data since January 2008 – BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, IT, CY, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, SI, SE, NO, CH (17)
BG – since January 2011 (before not applicable),
EL – since January 2011,
ES – since January 2010,
FR – since January 2009,
HR – since January 2013,
LT – since January 2009 (before not applicable),
LU – since March 2010 (before not applicable),
HU – since January 2013,
AT – since January 2014 (before not applicable),
RO – since January 2011,
SK – since January 2010,
FI – since January 2012 (before not applicable),
IS – since January 2015,
LI – since January 2016,
ME – since January 2018 (before not applicable),
UK – until November 2020 (after not applicable). (16)
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
Data since January 2021 – BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH, ME (30)
DK – no data (not applicable),
CY – since January 2024 (derogation for January 2021 - December 2023),
UK – no data (not applicable). (3)
A02 Pending asylum applications
Data since January 2008 – BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, ES, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, RO, SI, SK, FI, IS, LI, NO, CH (23)
DK – since February 2008,
EL – since December 2009,
FR – since March 2008,
HR – since January 2013,
CY – no data from March 2008 until November 2010, May 2011 until December 2013,
LU – since December 2009 (before not applicable),
PT – no data since January 2025,
SE – no data for February 2008,
ME – since January 2018 (before not applicable),
UK – from June 2010 to November 2020 (before and after not applicable). (10)
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
Data since January 2008 – BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, FR, IT, LV, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH (25)
DK – since January 2010,
ES – no data for June 2013,
HR – since January 2013,
CY – no data from March 2008 until January 2009,
LT – no data for January and March 2017 (not available),
SK – no data for June 2017,
ME – since January 2018 (before not applicable),
UK – until November 2020 (after not applicable). (8)
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
Data since January 2021 – BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH, ME (27)
BE – since January 2022 (derogation for 2021),
IE – since November 2022 (before not applicable),
CY – since September 2022 (derogation for January 2021 - August 2022),
MT – since January 2023 (derogation for January 2021 - December 2022),
RO – since January 2024 (derogation for January 2021 - December 2023),
UK – no data (not applicable). (6)
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
Data since 2021 – BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH (28)
DE – no data (derogation 2021 - 2023) and missing data for 2024,
HR – since 2023 (derogation 2021 - 2022),
RO – since 2024 (derogation 2021 - 2023),
UK – no data (not applicable),
ME – no data for 2022. (5)
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
Data since 2008 – BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH (30)
HR – since 2012,
ME – since 2018 (before not applicable),
UK – until 2019 (after not applicable. (3)
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar month and calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Compilation of statistics on asylum applications is based on Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and amending Regulation (EU) 2020/852, which depicts in detail the data provisions Member States are bound to supply Eurostat with.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Data on asylum applications are not confidential.
8.1. Release calendar
Statistical information is published in accordance with an approved release calendar.
Eurostat has developed an asylum metadata and quality questionnaire to ensure the compliance of Member States with the requirements of Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.
According to Article 9 of the Regulation, Member States must report to Eurostat on the data sources used, the reasons for the selection of these sources and the effects of the selected data on the quality of the statistics.
Member States collect the required data following the guidelines and instructions provided by Eurostat. Consistency checks are performed before data is published.
In addition, to ensure that the statistical practices used in the compilation of asylum data are in compliance with the methodological requirements and that best practices in the field of asylum statistics are followed, Eurostat organises every year a dedicated Working Group on asylum and managed migration statistics, where quality and methodological issues are discussed with national data providers.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Asylum statistics are based on administrative sources. Certain differences in definitions and practices of producing asylum statistics exist between countries. However, the Member States are generally following the requirements of the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and the quality of the data may be assessed as good or very good.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Users of Eurostat asylum statistics are:
various policy DGs in the European Commission, like DG Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) for designing, funding and implementing asylum related policies in the EU,
European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) for statistical and analytical reports,
European Parliament,
national authorities (Ministries of Interior, Ministries of Justice, immigration agencies) who use Asylum data to monitor or project the development of their national asylum procedures,
European Migration Network (EMN) for statistical and analytical reports,
researchers and students conducting analysis and research in the field of asylum,
journalists and international organisations in the area of asylum and migration.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Eurostat user satisfaction surveys are carried out at least once every 2 years. In addition, the user satisfaction is monitored on a constant way through informal and formal contacts and communications with users and through requests and comments received by users.
12.3. Completeness
Completeness of data on asylum applicants depends largely on the availability of data from the relevant data providers (Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes).
The following table describes the completeness of data from 2021.
Datasets
All required disaggregation
Missing disaggregation
A01 Asylum applicants
BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (28)
Missing status of minors (4):
FR (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
CY (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation),
PL (2021M11 - 2023M12 derogation),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A18 First-time asylum applicants
BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (28)
Missing status of minors (4):
FR (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
CY (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation),
PL (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation, from 2024M01 missing),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (27)
Missing data (2):
DK (not applicable),
CY (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation).
Missing status of minors (3):
FR (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
PL (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation, from 2024M01 missing),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A02 Pending asylum applications
BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (27)
Missing data (1):
PT (since 2025M01).
Missing status of minors (4):
FR (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
CY (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation),
PL (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation, from 2024M01 missing),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (27)
Missing type of withdrawal (2):
BE (2021M01 - M10 derogation),
IT (2021M01 - M12 derogation).
Missing status of minors (3):
CY (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation),
PL (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation, from 2024M01 missing),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, LT, LU, HU, NL, AT, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, ME (24)
Missing data (5):
BE (2021M01 - 2021M12 derogation),
IE (2021M01 - 2022M10 not applicable),
CY (2021M01 - 2022M08 derogation),
MT (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
RO (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation).
Missing status of minors (3):
FR (2021M01 - 2022M12 derogation),
PL (2021M01 - 2023M12 derogation, from 2024M01 missing),
CH (since 2024M05 missing).
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH (28)
Missing data (4):
DE (2021 - 2023 derogation, 2024 missing),
HR (2021 - 2022 derogation),
RO (2021 - 2023 derogation),
ME (2022 missing).
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI, NO, CH, ME (32)
(0)
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense is the degree of closeness of estimates to the true values.
The overall assessment of the accuracy of the data collection is considered to be high.
The asylum data are collected mainly through national administrative sources (registers in Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes).
Main sources of errors are:
differences in definitions by not recording a certain information, which may thus lead to over or under coverage of the target population, or
errors in the administrative register system (less often, mainly of technical nature).
EU aggregate is calculated as the sum of data from all Member States. It may be overestimated because of a certain risk that the same third-country national could apply for asylum in other Member States during the same reference period. While such risk is limited for high frequency monthly data, annual aggregates at the EU level (based on monthly statistics) can be possibly more affected by such double counting.
The following table describes the accuracy of data from 2021.
Datasets
Accuracy
A01 Asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
Footnotes for EU, BE, BG, DK, DE, IE, FR, IT, NL, AT, PL, RO, SI, FI, SE, IS, NO for March 2022 - After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the number of asylum applicants from Ukraine notably increased in March 2022 in several countries where temporary protection was not yet implemented.
A18 First-time asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A02 Pending asylum applications
EU (since 2025M01 estimated data due to missing PT data),
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
IT (2025M01 break in time series due to national revision).
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
BE (2022M01 - 2022M11 definition differs),
DK (since 2021M01 definition differs),
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
EU (2021 - 2023 definition differs: derogation for DE, HR, CY, RO data),
IT (2021 - 2023 definition differs),
CH (2021 - 2024 low reliability).
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
The annual statistics on unaccompanied minor asylum applicants and the annual statistics on asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors may differ because the age of the seekers may have been examined by national authorities and determined through an age assessment procedure.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Depending on the data periodicity, the data is provided to Eurostat by the reporting countries:
Monthly data: not later than 2 months after the end of the reference period.
Annual data: not later than 3 months after the end of the reference period.
Annual data on applicants having benefited from material reception conditions: not later than 6 months after the end of the reference period.
Generally, data are released by Eurostat on the public online database approximately 3 working days immediately after their reception (given that they do not contain any errors). In exceptional cases (large revisions, further validation, technical reasons, etc.) data may be disseminated later than 3 working days.
14.2. Punctuality
The punctuality of the data is overall good.
Majority of countries are able to meet the requirements of transmitting the data within the deadlines foreseen in the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.
However, some countries may transmit the data with some days/weeks delay. The number of countries, which provide delayed data, can vary from period to period depending on causes for these delays.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The geographical comparability across countries may be affected by the fact that in some cases an applicant may submit a request in more than one country during the same reference period.
15.2. Comparability - over time
The comparability over time is affected by updates of requested statistics.
Period January 1985 – December 2007: data collected on the voluntary basis.
Period January 2014 – December 2020: data by Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, implementation of the new 2013 Asylum Guidelines.
Period from January 2021: data by Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, implementation of the new 2021 Asylum Guidelines.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Internal consistency (between time, age, sex, country, citizenship) is ensured through various validation checks performed both by national data providers but also by Eurostat before data publication.
The types of statistics required under the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 are needed also for national purposes, such as for the management of the national system for processing asylum applications. In almost all cases, the data is based on existing administrative and statistical systems. The specific burdens placed by the Regulation on national authorities are therefore related to the need to prepare particular disaggregation or tables that might not otherwise have been produced, and to the need to apply the harmonised statistical definitions and concepts. For some national authorities, this resulted in one-off costs associated with the necessary adaptations to methods, procedures and systems.
The extent of the additional burdens varied between Member States according to the degree of similarity between the existing national systems for migration statistics and the requirements of the Regulation. However, in most Member States and for most of the statistics covered by the Regulation, the additional costs and burden are believed to be relatively limited and to be proportionate to the benefits obtained at both EU and national level of having more complete and better harmonised migration statistics.
According to this and following the Eurostat’s revision policy, revisions of asylum statistics are classified in three main types: routine revisions, major revisions and unscheduled revisions. As a general rule, the routine revisions shall be delivered annually, major revisions can be delivered with a prior agreement from Eurostat, and the corrections of errors in unscheduled revisions can be delivered at any time.
For more information, please see also in the Eurostat dedicated section on Asylum.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision practice generally corresponds to the revision practice of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy) but can be subject to exceptions.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated.
Data are usually revised for the last year, four quarters or twelve months. Aggregates and components are revised at the same time. Annual aggregated data are recomputed from monthly or quarterly data.
For the routine revisions the monthly datasets shall be revised once a year covering the period of the previous calendar year(s) and shall be delivered during the period from January to February of the following year. For the quarterly datasets the routine revisions shall be sent once a year covering the period of the previous calendar year(s); to be delivered during the period from January to March of the following year. For the annual datasets the routine revisions shall be sent once a year covering the period of the previous calendar year(s) and shall be delivered during the period from January to March of the following year.
However, in case of specific circumstances (e.g. high inflow of the asylum seekers in a given period, urgent policy or reporting needs), such routine revisions may de facto be accepted more frequently in order to ensure the highest accuracy of the published statistics. In this case these revisions will be published shortly after reception and validation by Eurostat.
Routine revisions, major revisions and unscheduled revisions are documented and monitored internally, while major revisions including exceptional revisions are communicated in the Metadata files available in dissemination.
Data may be published despite incomplete datasets, with some data missing or flagged as provisional for specific statistics. Such data are replaced with the final versions upon transmission and validation.
The impact of major revisions is analysed in working documents produced for expert meetings held with representatives of the national data providers.
Datasets
Revisions in 2025
A01 Asylum applicants
DE 2024M01 - 2024M11 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
EL 2024M01 - 2024M11 in April 2025 (annual revisions),
ES 2024M01 - 2024M12 in August 2025 (annual revisions),
FR 2023M01 - 2024M12 in March 2025 (update of status of minors),
CY 2024M01 - 2024M02, 2024M11 in February 2025 (update of status of minors),
MT 2024M01, 2024M05, 2024M06, 2024M08, 2024M10, 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
AT 2024M01 - 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
PL 2024M03 - 2024M10 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
PT 2024M01 - 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
SE 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions),
NO 2024M01 - 2024M11 in January 2025 (annual revisions).
A18 First - time asylum applicants
DE 2024M01 - 2024M11 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
EL 2024M01 - 2024M11 in April 2025 (annual revisions),
ES 2024M01 - 2024M12 in August 2025 (annual revisions),
FR 2023M01 - 2024M12 in March 2025 (update of status of minors),
CY 2024M01 - 2024M02, 2024M11 in February 2025 (update of status of minors),
AT 2024M01 - 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
PL 2024M03 - 2024M10 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
PT 2024M01 - 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
SE 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions),
NO 2024M01 - 2024M11 in January 2025 (annual revisions).
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
DE 2024M01 - 2024M11 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
EL 2024M01 - 2024M11 in April 2025 (annual revisions),
ES 2024M01 - 2024M12 in August 2025 (annual revisions),
FR 2023M01 - 2024M12 in March 2025 (update of status of minors),
CY 2024M01 - 2024M02 in February 2025 (update of status of minors),
AT 2024M01 - 2024M12 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
PL 2024M01 - 2024M10 in January 2025 (annual revisions),
PT 2024M04, 2024M08, 2024M10 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
SE 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions).
A02 Pending asylum applications
ES 2024M01 - 2024M12 in August 2025 (annual revisions),
FR 2023M01 - 2024M12 in March 2025 (update of status of minors),
CY 2024M01 - 2024M02 in February 2025 (update of status of minors),
SE 2017M01 - 2017M12 in March 2025 (revisions of historical data) and 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions),
NO 2008M01 - 2015M10 in July 2025 (update of all pending applications).
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
BE 2024M04 in June 2025 (update of data),
ES 2024M03, 2024M07, 2024M09 – 2024M11 (annual revisions),
FR 2024M01 - 2024M12 in June 2025 (annual revisions),
CY 2024M01 - 2024M02 in February 2025 (update of status of minors),
RO 2024M01 – 2025M01 in May 2025 (annual revisions),
SE 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions).
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
ES 2024M01 – 2024M04, 2024M06 – 2024M07 (annual revisions),
FR 2023M01 - 2024M12 in March 2025 (update of status of minors),
SE 2024M01 - 2024M12 in February 2025 (annual revisions).
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
EL 2024 in June 2025 (update).
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
ES 2024 in July 2025 (update of status of minors),
FR 2024 in June 2025 (update of status of minors).
18.1. Source data
Data are compiled from the administrative records of the national authorities, mainly the Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data on asylum applicants are collected on monthly or annual basis.
Datasets
Data provided by countries
Data calculated by Eurostat
A01 Asylum applicants
Monthly
Annually (sum of monthly data)
A18 First-time asylum applicants
Monthly
Annually (sum of monthly data)
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
Monthly
Annually (sum of monthly data)
A02 Pending asylum applications
Monthly
Not applicable
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
Monthly
Annually (sum of monthly data)
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
Monthly
Annually (sum of monthly data)
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
Annually
Not applicable
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
Annually
Not applicable
18.3. Data collection
This data collection is administered by Eurostat. The statistics are collected by the responsible data providers (Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes) and are supplied to Eurostat.
18.4. Data validation
Eurostat performs a set of standardized validation checks before publishing the data.
The transmission and the delivery of the datasets to Eurostat is managed by EDAMIS, the unique entry point. Statistical data must meet the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) standard with the CSV data transmission format.
The validation service infrastructure is built on two components performing validation operations, first structural validation (STRUVAL) checking the structure and organisation of a dataset, and then content validation (CONVAL) checking the content of the statistical files based on a set predefined validation rule. The data provider always receives two validation reports from each data transmission.
Validation rules to ensure internal data consistency:
variable codes and values of data are from a predefined set of accepted code-lists and format;
statistics are confronted against other relevant data (e.g. a 'total' value of a given disaggregation (dimension) should equal the sum of the disaggregated data);
investigating inconsistencies in the statistics;
analysis of size and sign of revision;
verifying the statistics against expectations and domain intelligence;
outlier detection.
Automatically validated data in EDAMIS are forwarded to Eurostat's production system, where they are further validated by data managers using additional validation tools and then finally published on the website of Eurostat.
18.5. Data compilation
Based on the national detailed figures transmitted by the national data providers, Eurostat derives European aggregates and annual aggregations using a common calculation method.
The geographical aggregation is calculated by an arithmetic sum if there are no missing values between the components of the respective geographical aggregate. Otherwise, they are not calculated.
The annual aggregation is calculated by an arithmetical sum if there are no monthly values missing between the components of the respective annual total. Otherwise, they are not calculated.
18.6. Adjustment
Data are rounded to the nearest 5.
Due to the rounding, the sum of individual cells may not necessarily match the given total.
Application for international protection means request made by a third-country national or a stateless person for protection from a Member State, who can be understood to seek refugee status or subsidiary protection status, and who does not explicitly request another kind of protection, outside the scope of Directive 2011/95/EU, that can be applied for separately.
Concepts
Definitions
A01 Asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period.
A18 First-time asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period and applying for international protection for the first time.
A20 Subsequent asylum applicant
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted a subsequent application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period.
A02 Person subject of asylum application pending at the end of the month
Third-country national or stateless person who is a subject of application for international protection under consideration by the responsible national authority at the end of the month.
A03 Asylum application withdrawn
Application for international protection having been withdrawn during the reference period, disaggregated by explicit and implicit withdrawal.
A19 Asylum applicant having had application processed under accelerated procedure
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member during the reference period and having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure.
A21 Applicant having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
Third-country national or stateless person having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member and having benefited from material reception conditions providing an adequate standard of living for applicants.
Status of minor
The status of minor (person below the age of 18) applicant or person subject to asylum decision can be either accompanied or unaccompanied by an adult responsible for the minor during the asylum application procedure.
A10 Asylum applicant considered to be unaccompanied minor
An unaccompanied minor is a person aged less than 18 years who arrives on the territory of an EU Member State not accompanied by an adult responsible for the minor, or a minor who is left unaccompanied after having entered the territory of a Member State. The age of unaccompanied minors refers to the age accepted by the national authority, and, in some cases, the age determined by the age assessment procedure.
All data explicitly refer to the number of persons. The data on asylum applications withdrawn are related to the number of persons rather than cases.
Statistical population for data on asylum applications are third-country nationals, i.e. any person who is not a citizen of the European Union within the meaning of Article 17(1) of the Treaty, including stateless persons. This data is released as Extra-EU citizenship.
Data providers may also provide asylum statistics relating to EU citizens, which refer to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - Protocol no 24 on asylum for nationals of Member States of the European Union (EUR-Lex - 12008E/PRO/24 - EN).
EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro.
Croatia from January 2012.
Montenegro from January 2018.
United Kingdom until November 2020.
Calendar month and calendar year.
The accuracy of statistical outputs in the general statistical sense is the degree of closeness of estimates to the true values.
The overall assessment of the accuracy of the data collection is considered to be high.
The asylum data are collected mainly through national administrative sources (registers in Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes).
Main sources of errors are:
differences in definitions by not recording a certain information, which may thus lead to over or under coverage of the target population, or
errors in the administrative register system (less often, mainly of technical nature).
EU aggregate is calculated as the sum of data from all Member States. It may be overestimated because of a certain risk that the same third-country national could apply for asylum in other Member States during the same reference period. While such risk is limited for high frequency monthly data, annual aggregates at the EU level (based on monthly statistics) can be possibly more affected by such double counting.
The following table describes the accuracy of data from 2021.
Datasets
Accuracy
A01 Asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
Footnotes for EU, BE, BG, DK, DE, IE, FR, IT, NL, AT, PL, RO, SI, FI, SE, IS, NO for March 2022 - After the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the number of asylum applicants from Ukraine notably increased in March 2022 in several countries where temporary protection was not yet implemented.
A18 First-time asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A20 Subsequent asylum applicants
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A02 Pending asylum applications
EU (since 2025M01 estimated data due to missing PT data),
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A03 Asylum applications withdrawn
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
IT (2025M01 break in time series due to national revision).
A19 Asylum applicants having had application processed under accelerated procedure
BE (2022M01 - 2022M11 definition differs),
DK (since 2021M01 definition differs),
ES (since 2025M03 provisional data),
FR (since 2023M01 estimated data for unaccompanied minors).
A21 Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
EU (2021 - 2023 definition differs: derogation for DE, HR, CY, RO data),
IT (2021 - 2023 definition differs),
CH (2021 - 2024 low reliability).
A10 Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minor
The annual statistics on unaccompanied minor asylum applicants and the annual statistics on asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors may differ because the age of the seekers may have been examined by national authorities and determined through an age assessment procedure.
Number of persons.
Based on the national detailed figures transmitted by the national data providers, Eurostat derives European aggregates and annual aggregations using a common calculation method.
The geographical aggregation is calculated by an arithmetic sum if there are no missing values between the components of the respective geographical aggregate. Otherwise, they are not calculated.
The annual aggregation is calculated by an arithmetical sum if there are no monthly values missing between the components of the respective annual total. Otherwise, they are not calculated.
Data are compiled from the administrative records of the national authorities, mainly the Ministries of the Interior, related immigration agencies and National Statistical Institutes.
Data is disseminated continuously.
Depending on the data periodicity, the data is provided to Eurostat by the reporting countries:
Monthly data: not later than 2 months after the end of the reference period.
Annual data: not later than 3 months after the end of the reference period.
Annual data on applicants having benefited from material reception conditions: not later than 6 months after the end of the reference period.
Generally, data are released by Eurostat on the public online database approximately 3 working days immediately after their reception (given that they do not contain any errors). In exceptional cases (large revisions, further validation, technical reasons, etc.) data may be disseminated later than 3 working days.
The geographical comparability across countries may be affected by the fact that in some cases an applicant may submit a request in more than one country during the same reference period.
The comparability over time is affected by updates of requested statistics.
Period January 1985 – December 2007: data collected on the voluntary basis.
