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 Dublin statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection.
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACO)
Pending ‘Dublin’ incoming requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENI)
Pending ‘Dublin’ outgoing requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFO)
Incoming responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESI)
Outgoing responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESO)
Unilateral ‘Dublin’ decisions by partner country, type of decision, sex and type of applicant (DUNI)
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DI)
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DO)
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACI)
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TO)
Pending incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENI)
Pending outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENO)
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Dublin statistics.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
3.5. Statistical unit
The text of Art.4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 on Migration and international protection refers in general to statistics based on the number of persons and not on the number of applications. However, the article describing the 'Dublin' statistics (Art.4.4) refers to statistics based on the number of requests. Commission services recommend that Art.4.4 (more precisely 4.4.a, 4.4.c and 4.4.d) is interpreted as referring to the number of persons concerned by each request, decision and transfer.
IND counts the number of requests, decisions and transfers, so this is the statistical unit in the tables. However, in practice it is very seldom that there are multiple requests concerning one person, and in that case, it will be to different member states. In that case one person may appear more than once in a reference year in the table 'outgoing requests', but these are very rare incidents. And ditto, or even more rare, is this the case for decisions and for transfers. Therefore, the statistical unit 'person' will be very well approximated by the number of requests, decisions and transfers.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
3.7. Reference area
The Netherlands (The European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
The Dublin statistics are compiled on the unit of measure: Requests. This is a very good approximation for unit of measure Persons [ see also 3.5]
2025 Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Until 2021 the Dublin statistics are based on the Regulation (EC) 862/2007. Data delivery for reference year 2021 onwards is based on Regulation (EC) 862/2007 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/851.
The IND, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (a Service of the Ministry of Justice and Security) is responsible in the Netherlands for the registration of the Dublin data.
The "Wet op het Centraal bureau voor de statistiek, van 2 maart 2022" (the dutch Law on Statistics Netherlands, 02 March 2022) states in article 4 that CBS is responsible for the production of the EU statistics:
This comprises all (mandatory and voluntary) statistics mentioned in the several EU Regulations and Directives.
There exists a formal agreement between IND and CBS regarding the provision of data from IND to CBS for the purpose of EU and other statistics, which also features the Dublin data.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data sharing is in accordance with the agreement between IND and CBS regarding the provision of data from IND to CBS for the purpose of (EU and other) statistics, and conform the 'CBS law' and other relevant legal acts and agreements.
IND has set up a microdata datawarehouse, in which amongst other data, the Dublin data are registered. IND compiles the Dublin statistics, and sends the (aggregated) tables to CBS.
CBS has set up a secure and automated data processing system to receive the data from the data supplier, to process the data, and send the statistics via Edamis to Eurostat. This system includes the "database EU Asylum and managed Migration" and several secure and automated procedures for receiving, processing and sending the data. All procedures are in accordance with the CBS standards in the field of data collection and processing.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The General Data Protection Regulation applies in The Netherlands, and therefore to CBS and IND.
Moreover, the "Wet op het Centraal bureau voor de statistiek, van 2 maart 2022" (the dutch Law on Statistics Netherlands, 02 March 2022) states in article 37 that CBS will not disclose any data that might identify a person, household or economic entity, either directly or indirectly: wetten.nl - Regeling - Wet op het Centraal bureau voor de statistiek - BWBR0015926
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
CBS defines a confidential cell as a cell where the number is lower than 4. Usually this cell is suppressed, however, depending on the statistic, also controlled rounding can be used, for example to the nearest fivefold or tenfold. CBS checks in general for residual disclosure, with methods depending on the statistic. In the publication in Statline based on the Dublin data, the data is treated in the same manner, statistics are rounded to the nearest fivefold to prevent disclosure.
8.1. Release calendar
At CBS, all regular statistical outputs are released on Statline.
A new statistical output may be accompanied by a news item. There is a publicly accessible CBS release calendar for these news items: Publicatieplanning | CBS. But often statistical outputs are released on Statline, without accompanying news item. In that case the new data release is not in this release calendar.
However, there is in each of the Statline tables a statement (to be found under the Table Information Icon) when the next data release will be. These Statline tables are publicly accessible.
The Dublin data is published by CBS in three annual Statline tables:
The moment of publication of the new data can be found under "tabelinformatie - tabeltoelichting" (Explanation).
8.3. Release policy - user access
The general release policy of CBS is to publish all regular statistics via Statline and Open Data: StatLine (cbs.nl). This is accessible to the general public, for all users at the same time, via the website of CBS.
In addition, statistics may be presented by dashboards, or other visuals. Moreover, any newly published statistic may be accompanied by a written 'news item' which gives some highlights of the data or a longer analysis. Every part of a publication is available on Statistics Netherlands.
By these methods of publication, CBS provides for the dissemination of statistical data to all users at the same time.
The publicatieplanning on the CBS-website gives an overview of the dates and moments that statistics are made publicly available through an 'news item' . Other statistics (without news item) are made publicly available from 0:00 h (at night) in our databank StatLine.
CBS publishes its release policy on its website: Publicatiebeleid | CBS. This policy provides for the dissemination of statistical data to all users at the same time.
CBS may send new publications under embargo, in advance of the release of the data, to government organisations and agencies, and to the press. For the press, the maximum embargo period is 24 hours before publication. For the governmental organisations, the maximum embargo period is from 12:00 h in the afternoon on the working day before publication.
Yearly
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Each year, based on the Dublin data, 3 tables will be published in Statline.
The first release was in April 2024, and there will be a release of the new reference year every April of the year after the reference year.
For the Dublin data, there is no access to the microdata for researchers at CBS. This is due to the fact that the Dublin data supplier, IND (Dutch Immigration Service) sends aggregated data to CBS.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Apart from sending the tables to Eurostat and dissemination of the statistics in Statline, there are generally no other means of dissemination.
In some years a news item may be published, at the same time as the dissemination of the new reference year data in Statline.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Both IND and CBS work in accordance with the relevant Eurostat guidelines.
CBS has implemented a.o. the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP), the ESS Quality Assurance Framework (QAF), ISO-9001, and works accordingly the CBS-law, and is regularly audited by external auditors.
IND has a division that is responsible for data quality: they measure on a very regular basis the quality of the data content and of the data-entry in INDIGO (the registration system for a.o. Dublin data), this is performed as well for the Dublin data. On a daily basis a number of cases is randomly selected and checked. When errors are found, they are reported to the staff responsible for the data entry, and they will correct the mistakes immediately. Also, quarterly reports are sent to the managing board. Moreover, before sets of data are selected to be extracted from INDIGO into METIS (the datawarehouse from which a.o. the tables for Eurostat are extracted), the process of data extraction is checked extensively.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The quality assurance processes as described in 11.1. lead to qualitatively good data. When in the described registrations and processes errors are found, they are immediately corrected, thereby ensuring qualitatively good data sets. On the ensuing data sets, in this case the Dublin tables, no other quality checks are performed.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The statistics collected under Regulation (EC) 862/2007 are used by a wide range of users at national, European and International level to cover various usersʼ needs.
Users of Dublin statistics:
The statistics collected under the Regulation (EU) 851/2020 are widely used in official publications and by a wide range of users at national, European and International level. The Dublin statistics produced 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 National level the Ministry of Justice and Security and CBS are the main user of the Dublin statistics.
At European level, the main users of Dublin statistics are 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.
Unmet user needs (on statistics) and reasons why these needs cannot be satisfied (at national and international level): There are no unmet needs.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No user satisfaction surveys are conducted.
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The accuracy of all Dublin tables is high, which means about 100 % accuracy. The reported statistics measure accurately the target population, as foreseen by Regulation (EC) 862/2007 (as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/851) and as defined in the Technical Guidelines for Dublin statistics. The target population, i.e. the third country nationals submitting an application of asylum under the Dublin III Regulation, is very accurately represented in the datawarehouse of IND, Metis, and validated compilations of these data are made to fill the mandatory Dublin tables. The bias is zero.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
There are no coverage errors, no measurement errors and no nonresponse errors. Processing errors sometimes occur in extracting the table from METIS/INDIGO, sometimes in the method of extracting, but mostly in the format of the table.
13.3.1. Coverage error
The coverage error, which is the discrepancy from the Eurostat target population, is 0 %.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
There are no measurement errors: all individual data records concerning 'Dublin' (an incoming Dublin request, an incoming decision from a partner country, a decision made by the national authority) is registered within 1 to 2 days in INDIGO (the registration system of IND, who is responsible for the Dublin procedures). From METIS, the datawarehouse based on INDIGO, all mandatory Dublin tables are yearly extracted, checked and validated, and send to CBS. There is no bias in the outcome, and the population, definitions and breakdowns are according to the Eurostat technical guidelines.
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
Processing errors sometimes occur in extracting the table from METIS/INDIGO, sometimes in the method of extracting, but mostly in the format of the table.
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, also concerning the timeframe of sending data to Eurostat.
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the first/preliminary data, at the earliest: the Dublin data were sent to Eurostat within 54 days after end of reference year 2025.
Reasons for possible long production of the first/preliminary data and plans to improve the situation: We produce the reports within the mandatory deadlines.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The statistics are comparable between all regions of the Netherlands, because there is only one national system of accumulating and processing the data.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
The Dublin statistics are comparable over all years.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
There are no coherence issues with other data sets.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
The Dublin statistics are comparable over all years.
Dublin has no subannual statistics, only annual statistics.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
All Dublin statistics are extracted from an IND datawarehouse (METIS) which is based on INDIGO, the registration system of IND in which all administrative individual data records concerning 'Dublin' (requests, decisions, transfers) are registered. All Dublin statistics are coherent with the microdataset in INDIGO and METIS, and with each other.
Not available.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The Netherlands does not have a data revision policy: the data produced are final data.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
All source data are collected and processed continuously by IND. In order to submit the data to Eurostat, compilations of the data are made on an annual base by IND and send to CBS.
18.3. Data collection
The sole source for the datasets for year 2012 and onwards is METIS, the IND datawarehouse, based on INDIGO, the IND registration system.
The datasets for the years 2008 through 2011 are based on INDIS, the former registration system of the Netherlands. (There is no break in the time series from 2011 to 2012)
18.4. Data validation
During the process of monitoring end ensuring the quality of the resulting tables, a.o. the next checks are performed: an automatic check on integrality of the data within the datawarehouse; checking that the population coverage is accurate according to the definitions of the Technical guidelines; checking retrospectively a sample of the data in the register in order to confirm that they are accurate; comparing yearly the data with data of previous periods; checking for outliers.
18.5. Data compilation
METIS (the IND datawarehouse), which is based on INDIGO (the registration system at IND of a.o. the Dublin data records), is the sole source for the mandatory Dublin tables. INDIGO is an integral microdata registration of all requests, transfers and decisions, therefore there is no imputation, no adjustment to non-response and no weighting of records. Based on METIS/INDIGO, for each table the required records are extracted, aggregated and counted, and tabulated into the table, according to the guidelines.
Data collection on Dublin statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection.
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACO)
Pending ‘Dublin’ incoming requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENI)
Pending ‘Dublin’ outgoing requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFO)
Incoming responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESI)
Outgoing responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESO)
Unilateral ‘Dublin’ decisions by partner country, type of decision, sex and type of applicant (DUNI)
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DI)
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DO)
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACI)
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACO)
Incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TI)
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TO)
Pending incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENI)
Pending outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENO)
27 March 2026
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
The text of Art.4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 on Migration and international protection refers in general to statistics based on the number of persons and not on the number of applications. However, the article describing the 'Dublin' statistics (Art.4.4) refers to statistics based on the number of requests. Commission services recommend that Art.4.4 (more precisely 4.4.a, 4.4.c and 4.4.d) is interpreted as referring to the number of persons concerned by each request, decision and transfer.
IND counts the number of requests, decisions and transfers, so this is the statistical unit in the tables. However, in practice it is very seldom that there are multiple requests concerning one person, and in that case, it will be to different member states. In that case one person may appear more than once in a reference year in the table 'outgoing requests', but these are very rare incidents. And ditto, or even more rare, is this the case for decisions and for transfers. Therefore, the statistical unit 'person' will be very well approximated by the number of requests, decisions and transfers.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
The Netherlands (The European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
2025 Calendar year.
The accuracy of all Dublin tables is high, which means about 100 % accuracy. The reported statistics measure accurately the target population, as foreseen by Regulation (EC) 862/2007 (as amended by Regulation (EU) 2020/851) and as defined in the Technical Guidelines for Dublin statistics. The target population, i.e. the third country nationals submitting an application of asylum under the Dublin III Regulation, is very accurately represented in the datawarehouse of IND, Metis, and validated compilations of these data are made to fill the mandatory Dublin tables. The bias is zero.
The Dublin statistics are compiled on the unit of measure: Requests. This is a very good approximation for unit of measure Persons [ see also 3.5]
METIS (the IND datawarehouse), which is based on INDIGO (the registration system at IND of a.o. the Dublin data records), is the sole source for the mandatory Dublin tables. INDIGO is an integral microdata registration of all requests, transfers and decisions, therefore there is no imputation, no adjustment to non-response and no weighting of records. Based on METIS/INDIGO, for each table the required records are extracted, aggregated and counted, and tabulated into the table, according to the guidelines.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
Yearly
Data supply to Eurostat is in accordance with the Regulation and the Technical Guidelines, also concerning the timeframe of sending data to Eurostat.
Number of days (on average) after the end of the reference period at which the country is able to report the first/preliminary data, at the earliest: the Dublin data were sent to Eurostat within 54 days after end of reference year 2025.
Reasons for possible long production of the first/preliminary data and plans to improve the situation: We produce the reports within the mandatory deadlines.
The statistics are comparable between all regions of the Netherlands, because there is only one national system of accumulating and processing the data.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2025’.
