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.
Ministry of the Interior - Inspection and Administrative Affairs Directorate, Service for Aliens and Asylum
Croatian Bureau of Statistics - Social Statistics Sector, Population Statistics Department
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Ilica 3, 10000 ZAGREB, CROATIA
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
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Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);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.
Authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons is not applicable as a decision on asylum protection.
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 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
Croatia
3.8. Coverage - Time
Time coverage according to Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, limited by Croatia's accession to the EU on 1 July 2013.
Data on asylum applicants, first-time asylum applicants, pending asylum applications, withdrawn asylum applications are not available from January 2008 to December 2012.
Data on applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors, first instance decisions and withdrawals, final decisions and withdrawals, and resettled persons are not available from 2008 to 2011.
Data on applicants who benefited from material reception conditions are not available from 2021 to 2022 (derogation).
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 Act on International and Temporary Protection (Official Gazzette, Nos 70/15, 127/17 and 17/25), defines the principles, conditions and procedures for the approval of international and temporary protection, as well as the status of applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection (asylum, subsidiary protection and temporary protection). It further regulates their rights and obligations.
This Act aligns Croatian legislation with the European Union directives.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics is the national statistical authority having the responsibility for coordinating all activities at national level for the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.
The Ministry of the Interior is the administrative source of statistics covered by theRegulation 862/2007 on Community Statistics on Migration and International Protection.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics is the official contact point for Eurostat regarding the AMM statistics, and all datasets transferred to Eurostat are produced by the Ministry of the Interior.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Not applicable.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not applicable.
8.1. Release calendar
Not applicable.
8.2. Release calendar access
Not applicable.
8.3. Release policy - user access
Not applicable.
Statistics on international protection are disseminated monthly, quarterly and annually only through Eurostat.
Statistics on international protection are disseminated only through Eurostat (Statistics | 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 available.
11.1. Quality assurance
Quality guidelines, training courses, the use of best practices, quality reviews, self-assessments, compliance monitoring.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Asylum statistics in Croatia are mainly based on administrative sources. Republic of Croatia is following the requirements of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 and the quality of the data may be assessed as Very good.
The data relevance can be assessed as Very good according to frequent informal and formal communication and feedback from users.
The asylum statistics benefit from the well established data collection and as well from the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 which defines certain deadlines for data transmission to Eurostat. The regulation specifies that the monthly and quarterly data must be reported to Eurostat not later than 2 months after the end of the reference period, while the annual data must be reported to Eurostat not later than 3 months after the end of the reference year. Due to the well established I.T. tools at Eurostat level, asylum data are generally disseminated on a punctual manner immediately after they are transmitted to Eurostat (given that the internal consistency of the data is ensured). Nevertheless, missing data can often impact on the punctuality of the release of certain publications.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Produced statistics of international and temporary protection are regularly used by national administrations, academic researchers and civil society groups working on a wide range of topics including the integration of immigrants, the development and monitoring of national asylum and immigration procedures, and the projection of the future population and labour force.
At European level, the main users of international and temporary protection statistics are regularly Eurostat and DG Migration and Home Affairs. These statistics are used in several publications of the Commission, as well as in the preparation of regular reports, policy proposals and analysis. The statistics also provide an input to the European Migration Network (EMN) studies and reports that address specific issues of current policy importance.
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 accuracy of the national Asylum statistics is high.
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
There are no discrepancies from Eurostat target population.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Possible errors in the data may be influenced by the human factor and the way data are entered.
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
Possible errors in the data may be influenced by the human factor and the way data are entered.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Croatia is trying to transmit asylum data within the required data delivery deadline after the end of the reference period. For monthly and quarterly data within 2 months and for annual data within 3 months after the end of the reference year.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
Due to technical problems on the part of the data provider, data is often delivered after the deadline.
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.
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
Asylum data are coherent.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Currently, no revision of data sent to Eurostat is planned.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Revisions of asylum applicants, first-time applicants and subsequent applicants – January-December 2021 data in November 2023; January-December 2022 data in October 2023; January-April 2023 data in August 2023, due to discrepancy of national definition for applicants.
Revisions of applicants for international protection considered to be unaccompanied minors for 2021 and 2022 in February 2024.
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
Administrative data of Ministry of Interior.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Monthly, quarterly, annually.
18.3. Data collection
1. Input data:
Expressing intention to apply for international protection (at the border, police station, etc.) – registration with basic information + fingerprints.
Status of asylum seeker and obligation to report in Reception Centre for asylum seekers (they should lodge an application for international protection within 15 days from expressed intention).
Lodging an application for international protection (at the Reception Centre).
2. The above raw data stored on an electronic database and on paper-records.
3. The data extracted from the national asylum system - electronic extraction from database, manually entered in the Excel templates provided by Eurostat and transformed into csv.
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 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’.
Croatia
Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.
The accuracy of the national Asylum statistics is high.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
Administrative data of Ministry of Interior.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum’.
Statistics on international protection are disseminated monthly, quarterly and annually only through Eurostat.
Croatia is trying to transmit asylum data within the required data delivery deadline after the end of the reference period. For monthly and quarterly data within 2 months and for annual data within 3 months after the end of the reference year.
Statistics are comparable between geographical areas.
Data are comparable over time.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum'.
