Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F2: Population and migration

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Eurostat collects data series on asylum applications and asylum decisions which contain statistical information based on Article 4 of the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 with reference to:

• Asylum, first time and subsequent applicants by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors;
• Persons covered by first instance decisions on asylum applications for international protection by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors;
• Persons covered by final instance decisions on asylum applications for international protection by age, sex, citizenship and status of minors;

In addition to those statistics in absolute terms, asylum indicators provide yearly information on the percentage of first-time asylum applicants in the total number of asylum applicants, the percentage of unaccompanied minors in the total number of asylum applications of minors, the percentage of positive decisions in the total number of decisions at first and at final instance, as well as measurement relative to the population in each EU and EFTA countries of the yearly number of first-time asylum applicant and of the yearly number of positive decisions at first instance. Those indicators enable comparisons in relative terms, either geographical or over time, of the structures and shares in the population of asylum applicants and of the number of positive decisions on asylum applications in the EU and EFTA countries.

Users of Eurostat asylum statistics are:

• various policy DGs in the European Commission, like DG Migration and Home Affairs for designing, funding and implementing asylum related policies in the EU,
• European Parliament,
• national authorities (Ministries of Interior, Ministries of Justice, immigration agencies) who use Asylum data to monitor or project the development of their national asylum procedures,
• European Migration Network (EMN) which uses the Asylum data as a basis for its annual EU and national level statistical and analytical reports,
• researchers and students conducting analysis and research in the field of asylum,
• journalists and international organisations in the area of asylum and migration.

Six yearly asylum indicators are available, of which three indicators on asylum applicants and three indicators on decisions on asylum applications.

Indicators on asylum applications:

1. First-time asylum applicants per 1 000 people:

R_AIP_FRST_POP_t = 1 000 AIP_FRST_t / POP_t

With AIP_FRST_t being the number of first-time applications for international protection lodged by third-country nationals during year t, and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

2. Percentage of first-time asylum applicants in the total number of asylum applicants:

PC_AIP_FRST_TOT_t = 100 AIP_FRST_t / AIP_t

With AIP_FRST_t being the number of first-time applications for international protection lodged by third-country nationals during year t and AIP_t the total number of applications for international protection lodged by third-country nationals during year t.

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

3. Percentage of first-time asylum applications of unaccompanied minors in the total number of first-time asylum applications of minors

PC_AIP_FRST_UAM_t = 100 AIP_FRST_UAM_t / AIP_FRST_M_t

With AIP_FRST_UAM_t being the number of first-time asylum applications for international protection lodged by unaccompanied minors during year t and AIP_FRST_M_t the number of first-time applications for international protection lodged by minors during year t.

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

Indicators on decisions on asylum applications:

1. Number of positive first instance decisions per 1 000 people

R_1POS_POP_t = 1 000 DEC_1POS_t / POP_t

With DEC_1POS_t being the total number of positive first instance decisions on applications for international protection during year t, and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

2. Asylum decisions at first instance by type of decision -% of total decisions at first instance

PC_DEC1_{t, d} = 100 DEC1_{t, d} / DEC1_t

With PC_DEC1_{t, d} being the number of positive first instance decisions on applications for international protection during year t by type of decision d (TOTAL_POS, GENCONV, HUMSTAT, SUB_PROT, INT_PROT), and  DEC1_t the total number of first instance decisions on applications for international protection, during year t.

The indicator is available for the five following types of positive decisions:

• Total positive decisions (TOTAL_POS = IPROT + HUMSTAT)
  • International protection status (IPROT = GENCONV + SUB_PROT)
  • Geneva Convention status (GENCONV)
  • Subsidiary protection status (SUB_PROT)
  • Humanitarian status (HUMSTAT)

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

3. Asylum decisions at final instance by type of decision -% of total decisions at final instance

PC_DECF_{t, d} = 100 DECF_{t, d} / DECF_t

With DECF_{t, d} being the number of positive final instance decisions on applications for international protection during year t, by type of decision d (TOTAL_POS, GENCONV, HUMSTAT, SUB_PROT, INT_PROT), and DECF_t the total number of final instance decisions on applications for international protection, during year t.

The indicator is available for the five following types of positive decisions:

• Total positive decisions (TOTAL_POS = IPROT + HUMSTAT)
  • International protection status (IPROT = GENCONV + SUB_PROT)
  • Geneva Convention status (GENCONV)
  • Subsidiary protection status (SUB_PROT)
  • Humanitarian status (HUMSTAT)

The indicator is available for the European Union (EU-27) and for EU and EFTA countries.

Per thousand persons and percentage

Year

The overall assessment of the accuracy of the data collection on asylum applications and decisions is based on administrative sources and is considered to be high.

EU aggregate of the total number of asylum applicants is calculated as the sum of data from all Member States. It may be overestimated because of a certain risk that the same third-country national could have applied for asylum in several Member States during the same reference period. 

Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat), based on data reported by the countries.

Population and migration statistics

• Population statistics (demo_gind)
• Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex - annual aggregated data (migr_asyappctza)
• Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex - annual data (migr_asyunaa)
• First instance decisions on applications by type of decision, citizenship, age and sex - annual aggregated data (migr_asydcfsta)
• Final decisions in appeal or review on applications by type of decision, citizenship, age and sex - annual data (migr_asydcfina)

Every year

The six yearly asylum indicators are à-priori updated on an annual basis or on an ad-hoc basis when significant revisions of source statistics are available.

T+1 quarter

T+ 2 months for asylum application and first decision indicators

T+ 3 months for final decision indicator

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU and EFTA countries and for EU-27 aggregate.

All EU MS

EU and EFTA countries are using the agreed Asylum guidelines which leads to a high degree of comparability between countries. 

> 10 years

From 2008 onwards for all indicators except for the unaccompanied minors’ indicator only available from 2021 onwards.

> 4 data points

The comparability over time of statistics on asylum applicants and asylum decisions may be affected by updates of the required statistics.

1. Period January 2008 – December 2014: data required by Regulation (EC) No 862/2007.
2. Period January 2014 – December 2020: implementation of the new 2013 Asylum Guidelines.

Period from January 2021: implementation of the new 2021 Asylum Guidelines.

Asylum indicators are used in regular publications (News articles and Statistics Explained on non-EU citizens having lodged an asylum application).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/migration-asylum/asylum/publications

Asylum indicators are used in Eurostat interactive publication Migration and asylum in Europe

Asylum indicators are online on the Eurostat website in the folder asylum indicators (migr_asyind).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/migration-asylum/asylum/database

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