Immigration law enforcement in the EU: 2024 figures

In 2024, 123 655 third-country nationals were refused entry into the EU territory at one of its external borders, a small increase of 0.3% compared with 2023. 

918 925 people were found to be illegally present in an EU country, representing a 27.4% decrease compared with the 1.27 million in the previous year. 

This information comes from data on the enforcement of immigration legislation published by Eurostat today. The article presents a selection of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.  

Source datasets: migr_eirfs, migr_eipre, migr_eiord1, migr_eirtn1

The number of third-country nationals issued with an order to leave an EU country was 453 380, a 7.3% decline compared with 2023 (489 335). 

Third-country nationals returned to a third country up almost 20%

Following an order to leave, 110 385 third-country nationals were returned to a third country, a 19.3% increase compared with 92 540 in 2023. 

Germany reported the largest number of third-country nationals returned to a third country (15 230), followed by France (14 685) and Sweden (9 910).  

Georgians (11 585) topped the list of third-country nationals returned, followed by Turks (7 910) and Albanians (7 895).

Source dataset: migr_eirtn