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Overview of statistical practice
Asylum statistics are published on a monthly basis by the Ministry of Interior, providing information on asylum applicants and main nationalities. As of 2016, these monthly reports also provide decisions at first and second instance.[1] The Federal Agency for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) also publishes short annual statistical overviews (Jahresbilanzen).[2]
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2020
| Applicants in 2020 | Pending at end 2020[3] | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Rejection on asylum[4] | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | |
| Total | 14,192 | 21,217 | 7,710 | 2,435 | 9,186 | – | – | – |
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Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
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| Syria | 4,965 | 2,888 | 2,617 | 310 | 305 | – | – | – |
| Afghanistan | 3,020 | 6,651 | 2,762 | 1,145 | 2,914 | – | – | – |
| Morocco | 714 | 196 | 2 | 3 | 541 | – | – | – |
| Iraq | 682 | 3,553 | 235 | 562 | 1,422 | – | – | – |
| Somalia | 652 | 749 | 540 | 138 | 265 | – | – | – |
| Russia | 450 | 973 | 236 | 35 | 338 | – | – | – |
| Algeria | 370 | N/A | 0 | 2 | 307 | – | – | – |
| Iran | 368 | 1,459 | 672 | 19 | 304 | – | – | – |
| unknown | 354 | 325 | 200 | 22 | 63 | – | – | – |
| Turkey | 306 | 392 | 109 | 7 | 134 | – | – | – |
| Other | 2,311 | 4,031 | 337 | 192 | 2,602 | – | – | – |
Source: Ministry of Interior. The Ministry provided incomplete data on rejections, as it only refers to the rejection of asylum on the merits. There is no data on the separate number of rejected asylum cases involving the subsequent granting of a subsidiary protection or humanitarian status. A calculation of recognition rates is therefore not possible and the above figures must be read with particular caution.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2020
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 14,192 | 100% |
| Men | 10,957 | 77.21% |
| Women | 3,235 | 22.79% |
| Children | 5,522 | 38,91% |
| Unaccompanied children | 1,467 | 10.3% |
Source: Ministery of Interior, Preliminary Annual statistics 2020, available in German at: https://bit.ly/2MAbZql; Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request, 4983/AB, 12 March 2021, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3qW1N9S.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2018
The Ministry of Interior does not disaggregate statistics on decisions between the first and second instance and the Administrative Court had not published its statistics for 2020 at the time of writing. The Ministry of Justice stated that in 2020, around 21,500 decisions were taken on appeals against decisions of the BFA – although this number should be read with caution as it may include multiple decisions on one case. A total of 9,730 decisions of the BFA were dismissed or amended, while 9,400 decisions of the BFA were confirmed by the BVwG.[5] At the time of writing, there was no information available on how many protection status had been granted in this context.
| First instance | Appeal | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions on merits | 8,749 | 100% | – | – |
| Decisions granting international protection [6] | 6,034 | 68.97% | – | – |
| Rejection[7] | 2,715 | 31.03% | – | – |
[1] Ministry of Interior, Asylum Statistics, available in German at: http://bit.ly/2xmiKOT.
[2] BFA, Statistics, available in German at: http://bit.ly/1XKnnsy. These have been published since 2014.
[3] Pending at first and second instance.
[4] Rejection only on merits concerning asylum. This does not lead to the conclusion that in all rejected cases a return decision was issued or that no other status was issued.
[5] Ministry of Interior, Answer to parliamentary request 3929AB/XXVII, 19 September 2019, available in German at: https://bit.ly/2ICGuXe.
[6] Including asylum and subsidiary protection
[7] These figures only include decision on the merits. They do not include rejections involving Dublin cases or subsequent applications.