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.
ASYLUM SERVICE - DEPUTY MINISTRY OF MIGRATION & INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION, 70 ARCH. MAKARIOS ΙΙΙ - 1077 - NICOSIA
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
25 June 2024
2.2. Metadata last posted
25 June 2024
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Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);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
Same as Eurostat.
Disaggregation by unaccompanied minors for asylum applicants and decisions on asylum applicants is not available from January 2021 to December 2023 (derogation).
Authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons is not applicable as a decision on asylum protection, from Q1 2015.
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
Same definitions as Eurostat.
Authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons is not applicable as a decision on asylum protection.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons.
3.6. Statistical population
Third-country nationals and stateless persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.7. Reference area
Cyprus
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time coverage according to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, from January 2008, eventually January 2021.
Data on subsequent asylum applicants are not available from January 2021 to December 2023 (derogation).
Data on applicants processed under accelerated procedure are not available from January 2021 to August 2022 (derogation).
Data on pending asylum applications are not available from March 2008 until November 2010, May 2011 until December 2013.
Data on withdrawn asylum applications are not available from March 2008 to January 2009.
Data on first instance decisions and withdrawals are not available from Q1 2008 to Q4 2008.
Data on authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons are not available from Q1 to Q4 2008. Since Q1 2015 are not applicable.
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 compilation of Asylum statistics is based on Regulation (EC) 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 which depicts in detail the data provisions Member States are bound to supply Eurostat with.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not available.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Not available.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not available.
8.1. Release calendar
Not applicable.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Not applicable.
Data on asylum statistics are not published at the national level. These data are disseminated monthly, quarterly and yearly through Eurostat online databases.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not applicable.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Not applicable.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not applicable.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Not applicable.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available.
11.1. Quality assurance
All quality requirements are met according to the standard quality criteria and in line with the Technical Guidelines for the data collection of Asylum Statistics.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Very good.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The statistics collected under Regulation 862/2007 are used by a wide range of users at national, European and International level to cover various user needs.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not 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
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not available.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
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 available.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Data supply to Eurostat is in accordance with the Regulation and the Technical Guidelines, and the timeframe and deadlines of sending data to Eurostat.
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
The statistics are comparable between all regions of Cyprus, there is only one information system of accumulating and processing the data.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data are comparable over time.
See 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
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The asylum statistics are consistent with the underlying dataset in Cyprus Asylum Information System.
Asylum statistics are based on administrative data. Their production does not require any special costs or burden, apart from the compensation of the people working for the collection and production of data.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data are revised on a continuous basis according to the most recently updated data provided by other countries.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data revisions are systematically scheduled at specific intervals within each calendar year to enhance the accuracy and quality of published data. The reasons for these scheduled revisions are error correction, quality improvement and transparency.
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Cyprus Asylum Service Database
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
The collection of information/data for the production of Asylum statistics is done continuously by the Asylum Service Database of Cyprus.
18.3. Data collection
The data for Asylum Statistics is downloaded from the Asylum Service Database of Cyprus in Excel format, which is then processed and checked in order to produce the required datasets.
18.4. Data validation
The Asylum data is checked through several internal quality controls on a monthly basis.
18.5. Data compilation
Data reports are drawn from the Cyprus Asylum Service Database on a monthly basis in Excel format and processed according to the given set of rules to produce the final reports in order to satisfy all possible statistics requests.
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
Same definitions as Eurostat.
Authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons is not applicable as a decision on asylum protection.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Persons.
Third-country nationals and stateless persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Cyprus
Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.
High
Number of persons.
Data reports are drawn from the Cyprus Asylum Service Database on a monthly basis in Excel format and processed according to the given set of rules to produce the final reports in order to satisfy all possible statistics requests.
Cyprus Asylum Service Database
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Data on asylum statistics are not published at the national level. These data are disseminated monthly, quarterly and yearly through Eurostat online databases.
Data supply to Eurostat is in accordance with the Regulation and the Technical Guidelines, and the timeframe and deadlines of sending data to Eurostat.
The statistics are comparable between all regions of Cyprus, there is only one information system of accumulating and processing the data.
Data are comparable over time.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
