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.
Social Statistics Directorate (Statistics Austria)
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Statistics Austria, Guglgasse 13, 1110 Vienna, Austria
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
26 March 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
26 March 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
15 September 2025
3.1. Data description
Data collection on asylum statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection.
Asylum applications:
Asylum, first time and subsequent applicants by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);
Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year;
Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex.
Decisions on asylum applications:
First instance decisions on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
Decisions withdrawing status granted at first instance decision by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors);
Final decisions in appeal or review on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
Decisions withdrawing status granted as final decision in appeal or review by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors).
Resettled persons:
Resettled persons by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and country of previous residence;
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision;
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and resettlement framework.
In March 2022, the European Commission activated the Temporary Protection Directive 2001/55/EC for people from Ukraine seeking refuge.
Temporary protection:
Decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Beneficiaries of temporary protection at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors).
3.2. Classification system
Similar as Eurostat.
Type of withdrawal of asylum applications is only available as implicit.
Reason for the withdrawal of the asylum decision is only available as withdrawal due to revocation.
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Asylum statistics.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Similar as Eurostat.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons.
3.6. Statistical population
Foreigners and stateless persons.
Applications by EU-citizens are included on a voluntary basis. Austria accepts asylum applications by EU citizens, however, these applications are usually rejected as inadmissible.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.7. Reference area
Austria
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time coverage according to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, from January 2008, eventually January 2021.
Data on first-time asylum applicants are not available from January 2008 to December 2013.
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The Federal Statistics Act 2000, Federal Law Gazette I No. 163/1999 as amended, provides the general legal framework and contains the basic provisions for the compilation of federal statistics.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Statistics Austria and the Federal Ministry of the Interior signed a contract regarding the compilation and transmission of statistics to Eurostat in accordance with the Regulation (EC) 862/2007, Articles 4 to 7.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The Federal Statistics Act 2000, Federal Law Gazette I No. 163/1999 as amended, provides the general legal framework and contains the basic provisions for the compilation of federal statistics. Article 17 of this document regulates confidentiality of statistics.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Statistics Austria receives anonymized data from the Ministry of the Interior and applies the "need2know" rule, i.e. only staff responsible for this project can access the data. Microdata is not accessible in any form for external users.
8.1. Release calendar
Statistics Austria: There is no fixed schedule of statistical release dates. Data on the monthly number of asylum applications are usually released on the same day as data are transmitted to ESTAT.
8.2. Release calendar access
Statistics Austria: There is no release calendar for Asylum statistics.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Statistics Austria: monthly publication of number of asylum applications on the website of Statistics Austria (accessible for everyone); Statistics Austria does not offer access to micro-data on Asylum statistics to users.
Statistics Austria publishes numbers of asylum applications monthly.
Ministry of the Interior: monthly and annual publications.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Statistics Austria does not have press releases on the topic of asylum statistics.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Annual publications by Statistics Austria including Asylum statistics:
Continuous quality assessments of data retrievals by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and their division of ICT (Information- and Communication Technology).
Quality evaluation cycle between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Statistics Austria based on the monthly data exchange.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data is of good quality as it is taken from entries in the Austrian Central Foreigners Register, which documents each administrative step for all asylum procedures in Austria. A PIN allows for the linkage of data within the IFA-database. However, so far, this is not compatible with other administrative registers. Therefore, comparison with other administrative data is only possible through statistical matching of individual variables (e.g. citizenship, date of birth, country of origin/destination) with respective uncertainties of the results.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Statistics Austria does not have a quantitative assessment of the use of asylum statistics, but users are expected to be:
National:
Federal Chancellery
Federal Ministries
Political bodies such as the National Council, the Federal Council, the Federal State Parliaments (Landtage), etc.
Bodied that representing specific interest groups (e.g. social partners, the Chamber of Labour, the Chamber of Commerce, bodies that represent certain professions, ...)
Political bodies representing national and federal interests as well as municipalities
Statistics Austria (internal users)
International:
European Commission
European Court of Auditors
European Central Bank
OECD
UN and their Subdivisions
IWF
Non-Profit-Organisations
Other
Media
Educational institutions
Research institutions
Health institutions
Businesses
General public
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No information available.
12.3. Completeness
The required disaggregation for all datasets is complete.
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
High accuracy: The reported statistics measure accurately the target population because the database includes all cases.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable, see 13.1.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Raw data are available on the first day of the month; data processing takes up to 30 days.
Data is provided to Eurostat within the requested deadlines.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
Data are delivered on time.
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Statistics are comparable between geographical areas within Austria.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data are comparable over time, except asylum applications and temporary protection.
Significant changes in results between months are checked for plausibility in relation to changes in asylum policies affecting Austria (e.g. as Serbia enhanced its border control in autumn 2023, there was a noticeable drop in in the number of asylum applications between October and November 2023 because fewer people used a route via Serbia to apply for asylum in Austria).
For persons with temporary protection status at the end of the month, the break in the series between November and December 2022 is due to a correction of the UAM variable declaration, which cannot be corrected further back than December 2022.
See also table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Small differences between (preliminary) monthly and quarterly/annual data are possible due to late data entries but also due to the procedure of age assessments. See 17.1.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Statistics are consistent within a given dataset.
Since administrative data are used, there are no costs/burden on respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data for monthly tables A01, A18 and A20 are revised once per year to correct for late data entries and to achieve coherence with annual data.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data revisions for the tables on total, first-time and subsequent asylum applicants are scheduled once a year, usually in the spring after the end of the reference year.
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
For the reference year 2023, revised data and first transmitted data differed on average by 54,5 asylum applications per month (higher number for revised data due to late data entries).
18.1. Source data
Asylum statistics are based on administrative data from the Central Foreigners Register of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Continuously.
18.3. Data collection
The initial data collection - in particular the personal data (age, gender, nationality) - is carried out by the responsible police stations (initial reception centers for asylum seekers) on Austrian territory using a special input mask in the police registration system PAD (Protokollierung-Anzeigen-Datei). From there, the information is transferred via an interface into the Integrated Foreigners Application (IFA) of the Ministry of the Interior. As the authority to process asylum procedures has been delegated by the Ministry of the Interior to the subordinate Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA), all further procedural steps are entered directly by the BFA into the IFA. The Federal Ministry of the Interior receives a daily updated database, which is also used to create datasets required for the compilation of European asylum statistics, which are transmitted to Statistics Austria.
18.4. Data validation
Statistics Austria monitors the monthly, quarterly and annual data by cross-checking results with the Ministry of the Interior.
Data collection on asylum statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection.
Asylum applications:
Asylum, first time and subsequent applicants by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);
Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year;
Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex.
Decisions on asylum applications:
First instance decisions on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
Decisions withdrawing status granted at first instance decision by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors);
Final decisions in appeal or review on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
Decisions withdrawing status granted as final decision in appeal or review by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors).
Resettled persons:
Resettled persons by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and country of previous residence;
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision;
Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and resettlement framework.
In March 2022, the European Commission activated the Temporary Protection Directive 2001/55/EC for people from Ukraine seeking refuge.
Temporary protection:
Decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
Beneficiaries of temporary protection at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors).
15 September 2025
Similar as Eurostat.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Persons.
Foreigners and stateless persons.
Applications by EU-citizens are included on a voluntary basis. Austria accepts asylum applications by EU citizens, however, these applications are usually rejected as inadmissible.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Austria
Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.
High accuracy: The reported statistics measure accurately the target population because the database includes all cases.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
Asylum statistics are based on administrative data from the Central Foreigners Register of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Statistics Austria publishes numbers of asylum applications monthly.
Ministry of the Interior: monthly and annual publications.
Raw data are available on the first day of the month; data processing takes up to 30 days.
Data is provided to Eurostat within the requested deadlines.
Statistics are comparable between geographical areas within Austria.
Data are comparable over time, except asylum applications and temporary protection.
Significant changes in results between months are checked for plausibility in relation to changes in asylum policies affecting Austria (e.g. as Serbia enhanced its border control in autumn 2023, there was a noticeable drop in in the number of asylum applications between October and November 2023 because fewer people used a route via Serbia to apply for asylum in Austria).
For persons with temporary protection status at the end of the month, the break in the series between November and December 2022 is due to a correction of the UAM variable declaration, which cannot be corrected further back than December 2022.
See also table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
