Information on data
Data collections
Temporary protection status of persons displaced from third countries and conditions of applications are defined by EU directive 2001/55.
Following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, EU decision 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 establishes the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons from Ukraine within the meaning of Article 5 of Directive 2001/55/EC and is the first one having the effect of introducing temporary protection.
The monthly data series on temporary protection are based on voluntary data collections from the EU countries and provide statistics on:
- decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age, and sex (flow data)
- beneficiaries of temporary protection at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex (stock data)
The quarterly data series on temporary protectionare based on mandatory data collections from EU countries and provide statistics on:
- decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age and sex (flow data)
- decisions withdrawing temporary protection by citizenship and reason (flow data)
The annual data series on temporary protection provide aggregated quarterly and/or monthly statistics on decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age and sex (flow data).
These data series are also available for unaccompanied minors.
These data are supplied to Eurostat by statistical authorities, interior ministries or related immigration agencies. Data are available for countries and as an aggregate for the European Union.
These data may differ from operational data collected by European or international agencies, like the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA) or the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
This data collection refers to asylum seekers who have lodged an asylum application and whose application is under consideration by the relevant authority.
The data series on asylum applications provide monthly or annual statistics on:
- asylum applicants, first-time asylum applicants and subsequent asylum applicants by citizenship, age, and sex
- persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of reference period by citizenship, age, and sex
- asylum applications withdrawn by type of withdrawal, citizenship, age, and sex
- asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure by citizenship, age, and sex
- asylum applicants benefiting from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year
These data series are also available for unaccompanied minors.
This data collection refers to decisions on persons who:
- were granted refugee status, or
- were granted subsidiary protection, or
- were granted protection on the basis of the national law related to international protection (authorisations to stay for humanitarian reasons), or
- were rejected from having any form of protection.
The data series on decisions on asylum applications and resettlement provide quarterly or annual statistics on:
- persons covered by first instance decisions by type of decision, citizenship, age and sex
- persons covered by final decisions taken in appeal or review by type of decision, citizenship, age and sex
- persons covered by decisions withdrawing status granted at first instance by type of decision, reason, and citizenship
- persons covered by decisions withdrawing status granted as final decisions by type of decision, reason, and citizenship
- resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex, country of previous residence, type of decision, and resettlement framework
These data series are also available for unaccompanied minors.
Since the entry into force of EU regulation 862/2007, statistics on asylum decisions have become available for different stages of the asylum procedure.
First instance decisions are decisions granted by the respective authority acting as a first instance of the administrative or judicial asylum procedure in the receiving country. In contrast, final decisions in appeal or review relate to decisions granted at the final instance of administrative or judicial asylum procedure and which result from an appeal lodged by an asylum seeker rejected in the preceding stage.
Since asylum procedures and the number or levels of decision making bodies differ among the EU members, the true final instance may be a decision of the highest national court. This depends on the national legislation and administrative procedures.
However, the applied methodology defines that final decisions should refer to what is effectively a final decision in the vast majority of cases. In other words, once all normal routes of appeal have been exhausted and there is no possibility to appeal on the substance of the decision but only on procedural grounds.
Dublin statistics provide details on how the Dublin regulation is being applied. They provide the following information:
- number of requests and re-examination requests for taking back or taking charge of an asylum seeker or a third-country national
- provisions on which the requests and re-examination requests for taking back or taking charge are based
- decisions taken in response to the requests and re-examination requests for taking back or taking charge
- number of unilateral decisions taken by Member States to examine the application of an asylum seeker
- numbers of transfers to which the decisions taken in response to the requests and re-examination requests for taking back or taking charge lead
- number of requests for information and responses on such requests
The data are disaggregated by:
- submitting and receiving country
- sex
- type of applicant.
Data on requests and re-examination requests are disaggregated by:
- type of request
- type of decisions on request
- duration of response.
Transfers are disaggregated by duration of transfer.
EU regulation 604/2013, also known as the Dublin regulation, aims at reducing consecutive transfers of asylum seekers from one EU country to another. it also seeks to prevent abuse of the system by the submission of several applications for asylum by one person.
The main principle is that only one EU country is responsible for examining an asylum application.
If, during the processing of an application, the authorities in an EU country decide that the application should be dealt with in another EU country, the initial authorities may make a request to the latter to take over the responsibility of the asylum application and to take over the applicant.
Accordingly, the statistics refer to outgoing requests, meaning EU countries reporting requests sent out, and incoming requests, meaning EU countries reporting requests received.
Data sources
Data are based on administrative sources and are supplied to Eurostat by statistical authorities, interior ministries or related immigration agencies.
The legal basis of data collection is the EU regulation 862/2007. For further details, please consult the page on legislation. The amendment of this regulation in June 2020 introduced additional new statistics or breakdowns, for example by unaccompanied minors, and increased the frequency of the collection of some data.
European aggregates
Eurostat derives European aggregates by applying common calculation method based on the detailed figures transmitted by the national data providers. The geographical aggregation is done by arithmetical sum, when there are no missing values among the components of the respective geographical aggregate. Otherwise, they are not calculated.
Data releases
Depending on data periodicity, data are sent to Eurostat by the reporting countries as following:
| Frequency | Deadline |
|---|---|
|
Monthly data |
(not later than) 1 month after the end of the reference period |
|
Quarterly data |
(not later than) 2 months after the end of the reference period |
|
Annual data |
(not later than) 3 months after the end of the reference period |
| Frequency | Deadline |
|---|---|
|
Monthly data |
(not later than) 2 months after the end of the reference period |
|
Annual data |
(not later than) 3 months after the end of the reference period (not later than) 6 months after the end of the reference period: statistics on applicants having benefited from material reception conditions |
| Frequency | Deadline |
|---|---|
|
Quarterly data |
(not later than) 2 months after the end of the reference period |
|
Annual data |
(not later than) 3 months after the end of the reference period |
| Frequency | Deadline |
|---|---|
|
Annual data |
(not later than) 3 months after the end of the reference period |
Generally, data are published in the Eurostat database approximately within 3 working days after their reception, if they do not contain any errors. In some cases (large revisions, further validation, technical reasons, etc.) data may be disseminated later than 3 working days.
Data revision policy
Data on asylum applications and decisions on asylum applications are revised on the basis of the agreed revision and correction policy. According to this policy, revisions of data are generally made on the annual basis, however corrections of errors may be done at any time.
Data on temporary protection and Dublin statistics are revised when reporting countries provide updated data.