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.
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Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);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.
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.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Persons.
3.6. Statistical population
Foreigners and stateless persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
3.7. Reference area
Finland
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 2011.
Data on withdrawn first instance decisions are not available from Q1 2008 to Q4 2011.
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
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
At Finnish Immigration Service the main source for data is the national UMA-register that is owned by the FIS who has a direct authority over.
No data are shared throughout the statistics production processes.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), 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. The General Data Protection Regulation applies in Finland.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The General Data Protection Regulation applies in Finland.
8.1. Release calendar
No national releases. Statistical information is published in accordance with an approved Eurostat release calendar.
8.2. Release calendar access
No national releases. See Eurostat release policy.
8.3. Release policy - user access
No national releases. See Eurostat release policy.
No national dissemination. Data is disseminated continuously by Eurostat.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
No national dissemination. Data are disseminated by Eurostat.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
No national dissemination. Data are disseminated by Eurostat.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
No national dissemination. Data are disseminated by Eurostat.
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 applicable.
11.1. Quality assurance
Statistics within asylum domain are based entirely on administrative sources of the institutions producing the statistics (National UMA-register (Finnish Immigration Service)).
The statistics are produces in compliance with the Council Regulation (EC) 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation 2020/851 and following guidelines and instructions provided by Eurostat. Before publishing the data, consistent validation checks are performed.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data quality management and assessments is an essential part of a continuing process of the administrative registers developing and maintenance.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Not applicable.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not applicable.
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
The overall assessment of the accuracy of data collection is considered to be high.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
No known non-sampling error.
13.3.1. Coverage error
No known undercoverage or overcoverge.
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
Not applicable.
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 in Finnland.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data are comparable over time, except data on resettled persons.
Data on resettled persons have break in time series in 2021.
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
Internal consistency (between time, age, sex, country, citizenship) is ensured by various validation checks based on time series during the data production process.
According to this and following the Eurostat’s revision policy, revisions of asylum statistics are classified in three main types: routine, unscheduled error, and major revisions. As a general rule, the routine revisions shall be delivered with an annual frequency, error revisions can be delivered any time, while major revisions are to be sent with prior notification to Eurostat and are subject of Eurostat's approval.
For more information, please see also in the Eurostat dedicated section on Asylum.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Data on withdrawals of applications in first instance decisions: due to the refinement of statistical definitions, the statistics were revised in February 2025 for the periods 2021Q1–2024Q4. Reason for withdrawal, category refused to renew, is after the revision categorized as part of another available categories.
Data on rejected applicants for international protection in final decisions: revised in March for the period 2022 due to a technical mistake in the csv production at the time of delivery of 2022 statistics.
Data on withdrawals of applications in final decisions: due to the refinement of statistical definitions, the statistics were revised in March 2025 for the periods 2021–2023. Reason for withdrawal, category refused to renew, is after the revision categorized as part of another available categories.
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
National UMA-register (Finnish Immigration Service).
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Monthly, quarterly and annually.
18.3. Data collection
The statistics are collected and produced by Finnish Immigrations Service.
18.4. Data validation
Data quality operations performed during the production of national statistics.
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.
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Persons.
Foreigners and stateless persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Finland
Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.
The overall assessment of the accuracy of data collection is considered to be high.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
National UMA-register (Finnish Immigration Service).
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
No national dissemination. Data is disseminated continuously by Eurostat.
Not applicable.
Statistics are comparable between geographical areas in Finnland.
Data are comparable over time, except data on resettled persons.
Data on resettled persons have break in time series in 2021.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
