Author
Overview of statistical practice
In France, detailed statistics on asylum applications and first instance decisions are published annually by the Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) in its activity reports. The next OFPRA Activity Report will be published in spring 2024, several months after the end of the reporting year.[1] Statistics on the second instance procedure are to be found in the National Court of Asylum (CNDA) annual reports, which are usually published few weeks after the end of their reporting period.[2]
However, thanks to “SI Asile”, an information system established by the Ministry of Interior in 2016, some provisional data are made available by the Ministry each year, in January; this data is corrected through a definitive publication by the Ministry in June of each year.[3]
Discrepancies in statistics
The various sources of statistics provide different figures on the number of persons seeking asylum in France:[4]
- OFPRA statistics only cover persons who have lodged an asylum application with OFPRA. As discussed in Registration, those falling under a Dublin procedure are not allowed to lodge their claim and are thus not included in OFPRA statistics. The statistics on France provided to Eurostat until 2020 were incomplete insofar as these were based on OFPRA figures;
- Ministry of Interior statistics refer to persons registered at a “single desk” (guichet unique de demande d’asile, GUDA) (see Registration).
- Persons re-channelled from a Dublin procedure to a regular or accelerated procedure (requalifiés) do not clearly appear in Ministry of Interior statistics if their application has been registered at the GUDA in previous years. They do, however, appear in OFPRA statistics.
- Persons arrived in resettlement programmes and persons applying for asylum in detention are not registered at the GUDA but appear in OFPRA statistics.
Applications registered by the GUDA in France are usually higher than the reported number of applications lodged with OFPRA.
In 2023, 167,432 persons were registered as asylum seekers by the Ministry of Interior (compared to 155,773 in 2022), of which 145,522 as first applicants (136,724 in 2022) and 21,910 as subsequent applicants (19,049 in 2022). For its part, OFPRA reported a total of about 142,500 asylum seekers (compared to 131,254 in 2022)[5]. The latter include requalifiés from previous years (not included in 2022 GUDA statistics) and people whose asylum application is not registered in GUDA (i.e., asylum claims in detention and persons arriving through resettlement programmes).
According to the Ministry of Interior, the nationality breakdown of people registered in GUDA for the first 10 countries of origin in 2023 was as follows: Afghanistan, Guinea, Türkiye, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, DR Congo, Georgia, Sudan, Albania, Sri Lanka.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2023 (1)
Detailed statistics on applications and first instance decisions were not made available by the national authorities at the time of writing of this report. The only indicative statistics published by the Ministry of Interior indicate a total of 167,432 applicants for international protection, out of which 145,522 were first-time applicants and 21,910 subsequent applicants. The main nationalities represented were Afghanistan, followed by Guinea, Türkiye, Ivory Coast and Bangladesh.[6]
As regards decisions on international protection, OFPRA indicated that the overall protection rate at first instance stood at 33% % in 2023.[7] A detailed breakdown by nationality was not available at the time of writing of this report.
The following statistics are based on Eurostat statistics, which must be read with caution as they include inadmissibility decisions in rejections. Moreover, data on applications does not completely correspond to cases that will go to the first instance procedure, as it includes all applications registered by authorities (including asylum seekers under a Dublin procedure).
| Applicants in
2023 (2) |
Pending at
end of 2023 |
Total decisions
in 2023 (3) |
Total rejections (4) | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | |
| Total | 166,880 | 146,175 | 132,695 | 91,085 | 31,480 | 10,135 |
| Afghanistan | 19,015 | 16,340 | 19,455 | 5,985 | 11,855 | 1,615 |
| Tûrkiye | 12,375 | 11,170 | 10,840 | 8,980 | 1,755 | 110 |
| Guinea | 11,565 | 10,130 | 6,095 | 4,160 | 1,810 | 125 |
| Ivory Coast | 10,480 | 9,330 | 6,280 | 4,450 | 1,625 | 205 |
| Bangladesh | 10,215 | 15,270 | 9,785 | 9,040 | 520 | 225 |
| DR Congo | 9,605 | 8,170 | 8,105 | 5,965 | 1,625 | 515 |
| Georgia | 7,210 | 3,180 | 8,045 | 7,475 | 210 | 360 |
| Sudan | 6,065 | 4,535 | 1,710 | 815 | 350 | 545 |
| Russia | 4,865 | 4,465 | 3,540 | 2,585 | 920 | 40 |
| Sri Lanka | 4,145 | 4,545 | 2,375 | 1,905 | 405 | 70 |
Source: Eurostat
Note 1: statistics on applicants and pending concern people, including children and dependents. Based on Eurostat explanatory texts, this data refers to the number of persons covered by rejection/protection decisions, rather than the number of decisions (which may cover more than one person).
Note 2: “Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
Note 3: Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.
Note 4: Due to lack of disaggregated data, total rejections include inadmissibility decisions.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: rates for 2023
| Overall rejection rate | Overall protection rate | Refugee rate | Subsidiary protection rate | |
| Total | 68.6% | 31.4% | 23.7% | 7.6% |
| Afghanistan | 30.8% | 69.2% | 60.9% | 8.3% |
| Tûrkiye | 82.8% | 17.2% | 16.2% | 1.0% |
| Guinea | 68.3% | 31.7% | 29.7% | 2.1% |
| Ivory Coast | 70.9% | 29.1% | 25.9% | 3.3% |
| Bangladesh | 92.4% | 7.6% | 5.3% | 2.3% |
| DR Congo | 73.6% | 26.4% | 20.0% | 6.4% |
| Georgia | 92.9% | 7.1% | 2.6% | 4.5% |
| Sudan | 47.7% | 52.3% | 20.5% | 31.9% |
| Russia | 73.0% | 27.1% | 26.0% | 1.1% |
| Sri Lanka | 80.2% | 20.0% | 17.1% | 2.9% |
Source of the percentages: calculated by the author based on the data presented in the previous table (Eurostat).
Notes: Due to lack of disaggregated data, these percentages are calculated based on total decisions, including inadmissibility decisions.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2023
| Adults | Children | |
| Number | 123,940 | 42,945 |
| Percentage | 74.3% | 25.7% |
| Men | Women | |
| Number | 105,480 | 61,400 |
| Percentage | 63.2% | 36.8% |
Source: Eurostat
Notes:
- The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults.
- There is no segregated data between accompanied and unaccompanied children available at latest time of writing (April 2024).
First instance and appeal decision rates: 2023
It should be noted that, during the same year, the first instance and appeal authorities handle different caseloads. Thus, the decisions below do not concern the same applicants.
| First instance | Appeal | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 132,695 | 100% | 66,358 | 100% |
| Positive decisions | 41,615 | 31.4% | 13,606 | 20.5% |
|
31,480 | 23.7% | 9,462 | 14.3% |
|
10,135 | 7.6% | 4,144 | 6.2% |
| Negative decisions | 91,085 | 68.6% | 52,752 | 79.5% |
Source: for first instance, see Eurostat ; for appeal, see CNDA, Rapport d’activité 2023, January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3w20Sgw.
[1] OFPRA, ‘Rapports d’activité’, available in French at: http://bit.ly/3my3uOr.
[2] CNDA, ‘Rapports annuels’, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3wMbqh9.
[3] Ministry of Interior, ‘Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile’, 25 January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3xaPpvu.
[4] For a discussion, see Forum refugies, ‘Asile : comprendre et analyser les données statistiques’, 14 January 2022, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3wgljmr.
[5] OFPRA, ‘Premières données de l’asile 2023 [chiffres provisoires]’, 23 January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3xaPG1u.
[6] Ministry of Interior, ‘Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile’, 26 January 2023 available in French at: http://bit.ly/4039KeI.
[7] OFPRA, ‘Premières données de l’asile 2023 [chiffres provisoires]’, 23 January 2024, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3xaPG1u.