Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

F2: Population and migration

2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG

Enforcement of immigration legislation data (EIL statistics) contain statistical information based on Article 5 and 7 of the Council Regulation (EC) no 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation 2020/851 with reference to Third country nationals: 

• · refused entry at the external border;
• · found to be illegally present;
• · ordered to leave;
• · returned following an order to leave.

In addition to those EIL statistics in absolute terms, irregular migration and return indicators provide yearly information relative to the population in each EU and EFTA countries, that is to say: number of third-country nationals subject to immigration law enforcement per thousand persons (number of third-country nationals refused entry at the external border, found to be illegally present, ordered to leave, or returned following an order to leave). A supplementary indicator on return shows the structure in percentage by type of return.  Those indicators enable comparisons in relative terms, either geographical or over time, of statistics on persons subject to immigration law enforcement.

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.

Irregular migration and return indicators are composed of two main group of indicators:

Persons subject to enforcement migration law par thousand persons:

1.     People refused entry per 1 000 persons:

REF_POP_t = 1 000 REF_t / POP_t

With REF_t being the number of non-EU citizens refused entry into the EU during year t and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

2. People found to be illegally present per 1 000 persons:

ILL_POP_t = 1 000 ILL_t / POP_t

With ILL_t being the number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present during year t and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

3. People ordered to leave an EU Member State per 1 000 persons:

ORD_POP_t = 1 000 ORD_t / POP_t

With ORD_t being the number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave an EU Member State during year t and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

4. People returned following an order to leave per 1 000 persons:

RET_POP_t = 1 000 RET_t / POP_t

With RET_t being the number of non-EU citizens returned following an order to leave during year t and POP_t the residing population on 1 January of year t.

Returns by type of return - % of total returns:

The indicator provides the quarterly share in percentage of each type of return in the total number of returns. Five types of return are available:

• Voluntary return (VOLU) = Assisted voluntary return (ASSI_VOLU) + Non-assisted voluntary return (NASSI_VOLU)
• Assisted return (ASSI) = Assisted voluntary return (ASSI_VOLU) + Assisted forced return (ASSI_FORC)
• Assisted voluntary return (ASSI_VOLU)
• Assisted forced return (ASSI_FORC)
• Non-assisted voluntary return (NASSI_VOLU)

The indicator is calculated as follows:

PC_RTN_{t, r} = 100 RTN_{t, r} / RTN_t

With RTN_{t, r} being the number of returns by type of return r (VOLU, ASSI, ASSI_VOLU, ASSI_FORC, NASSI_VOLU) during quarter t and RTN_t, the total number of returns during quarter t.

Per thousand persons or percentage

Year or quarter

The accuracy of the EIL statistics depends on the accuracy and efficiency of the underlying administrative systems in the countries. The widespread redevelopment of administrative systems had a strongly positive impact on the accuracy of the statistical data.

EU aggregates are 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 been subject to immigration enforcement law applied for asylum in several Member States during the same reference period. 

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

Population and migration statistics

Data source:

• Population statistics (demo_gind)
• Third country nationals refused entry at the external borders - annual data (rounded) (migr_eirfs)
• Third country nationals found to be illegally present - annual data (rounded) (migr_eipre) 
• Third country nationals ordered to leave - annual data (rounded) (migr_eiord)     

Third-country nationals returned following an order to leave, by type of return, citizenship, country of destination, age and sex – quarterly data (migr_eirtn1)

Every quarter

Irregular migration and return indicators are à-priori updated on a quarterly basis or on an ad-hoc basis when significant revisions of source statistics are available.

T+1 quarter

T+ 4 months for persons subject to migration enforcement law indicators

T+ 3 months for return indicator

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU and EFTA countries and for EU-27 aggregate. Some data for Montenegro is also available.

All EU MS

The national framework has an important impact on the resulted figures implying that the data comparability between the Member States could be limited due to national specific rules and procedures.

For analytical purposes and comparisons between the countries please refer to related metadata on EIL.

> 10 years

From 2008 onwards for indicators on persons subject to immigration enforcement law

From 2021 Q1 onwards for the indicator on returns by type of return in percentage of total returns

> 4 data points

The comparability over time of EIL statistics may be affected by updates of the EIL guidelines in 2018, 2023 and 2024 (see related metadata on EIL for more details).

Irregular migration and return indicators are used in regular publications (News articles and statistics explained on non-EU citizens under temporary protection).

Publications - Eurostat (europa.eu)

Irregular migration and return indicators are used in Eurostat interactive publication Migration and asylum in Europe

Irregular migration and return indicators are online on the Eurostat website in the folder asylum indicators (migr_eilind).

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