Author
Overview of statistical practice
The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless persons (CGRS) publishes monthly statistical reports, providing information on asylum applicants and first-instance decisions.[1] In addition, statistical information may be found in the Contact Group on International Protection reports, bringing together national authorities, UNHCR and civil society organisations,[2] and in annual reports of national asylum authorities.[3]
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: figures for 2024[4]
| Applicants in 2024 (1) | Pending at
end of 2024 (2) |
Total decisions in 2024 (3) | Total in merit decisions (4) | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Humanitarian protection (5) | In merit rejection (6) | Total rejection (7) | ||
| Total | 39,615 | 26,119 | 34,106 | 26,343 | 15,668 | 601 | N/A | 10,074 | 14,711 | |
|
Breakdown by top 10 countries of origin in terms of number of applications
|
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| Palestine | 5,692 | 4,256 | 3,753 | 3,688 | 0 | N/A | 76 | 284 | ||
| Syria | 5,617 | 3,764 | 3,057 | 2,765 | 166 | N/A | 126 | 709 | ||
| Afghanistan | 3,541 | 5,072 | 3,725 | 1,938 | 0 | N/A | 1,787 | 2,947 | ||
| Eritrea | 2,396 | 2,460 | 2,265 | 2,157 | 30 | N/A | 67 | 222 | ||
| Türkiye | 2,233 | 1,468 | 1,214 | 687 | 0 | N/A | 527 | 532 | ||
| DRC | 1,907 | 1,252 | 1,061 | 348 | 6 | N/A | 707 | 814 | ||
| Guinea | 1,228 | 859 | 638 | 228 | 4 | N/A | 406 | 534 | ||
| Cameroon | 1,168 | 941 | 743 | 265 | 8 | N/A | 470 | 573 | ||
| Burundi | 1,120 | 1,499 | 1,478 | 1,323 | 0 | N/A | 155 | 163 | ||
| Georgia | 1,012 | 728 | 406 | 42 | 1 | N/A | 363 | 545 | ||
(1) In 2024, 33,146 persons applied for international protection in Belgium for the first time, 484 of which did so in the context of a resettlement procedure. 6,469 persons introduced a subsequent (2nd, 3rd, …) application.
(2) Decisions are pending in 26,119 files, concerning 32,007 persons.
(3) Decisions were taken in 27,473 files, concerning 34,106 persons.
(4) This number excludes: the number of persons for whom a further assessment at the border was decided or whose subsequent application was declared admissible (1,211), the number of persons whose application was declared inadmissible (4,561), the number of persons whose status was ended or revoked (76), the number of persons whose procedure was ended before a decision was made (e.g. renunciation, technical closure, etc) (1,915).
(5) Humanitarian protection is not used as a form of international protection in Belgium.
(6) This includes both the number of decisions refusing refugee status and subsidiary protection status (9,093), the number of decisions for manifestly unfounded applications (896) and the number of decisions of exclusion of international protection (85).
(7) This number includes in-merit rejections (see (6)), decisions of inadmissibility (4,561) and decisions by which a protection status was ended or revoked (76). It does not include decisions by which an asylum procedure was ended before a decision was made (e.g. renunciation, technical closure, …).
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: in merit rates for year 2024
The rates are calculated based on in merit decisions only, excluding non-in merit decisions, thus excluding the number of persons for whom a further assessment at the border was decided or whose subsequent application was declared admissible, the number of persons whose application was declared inadmissible, the number of persons whose status was ended or revoked and the number of persons whose procedure was ended before a decision was made (e.g. renunciation, technical closure, etc).
| In merit protection rate | Refugee rate | Subsidiary
protection rate |
Rejection rate | |
| Total | 62% | 60% | 2% | 38% |
|
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
|
||||
| Palestine | 98% | 98% | 0% | 2% |
| Syria | 96% | 90% | 5% | 5% |
| Afghanistan | 52% | 52% | 0% | 48% |
| Eritrea | 97% | 96% | 1% | 3% |
| Türkiye | 57% | 57% | 0% | 43% |
| DRC | 33% | 33% | 1% | 66% |
| Guinea | 36% | 36% | 1% | 63% |
| Cameroon | 37% | 36% | 1% | 63% |
| Burundi | 90% | 90% | 0% | 10% |
| Georgia | 11% | 10% | 0% | 90% |
Source: Calculations by author based on the data (raw numbers) provided by the CGRS in March 2025.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2024
| Men | Women | |
| Number | 26,265 | 13,245 |
| Percentage | 66% | 34% |
Source: Eurostat[5]
First instance and appeal decision rates: 2024[6]
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 (1) | Appeal | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 20,831 | 100% | 8,083 | 100% |
| Positive decisions | 12,452 | 60% | 1,921 | 23.8% |
|
11,957 | 57% | 708 | 8.8% |
|
601 | 3% | 55 | 0.7% |
|
N/A | N/A | 1,158 | 14.3% |
| Negative decisions | 8,379 | 40% | 6,162 | 76.2% |
Source: Statistics CGRS and annual report CALL[8]
(1) Contrary to the first statistical table, for coherence with the presentation for appeals, these numbers concern decisions (which may include several people), rather than people.
[1] CGRS, Figures, available in English, Dutch and French here.
[2] Myria, Contact group international protection, available in French and Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3sE592s.
[3] Immigration Office, Activity reports, available in French and Dutch at: https://dofi.ibz.be/en/figures/activity-reports; Council of Alien Law Litigation, Year reports, available in French and Dutch at: https://www.rvv-cce.be/fr/cce/rapports-annuels.
[4] Data provided by the CGRS in March 2025. Yearly statistics of the CGRS are also publicly available here: CGRS, Asylum statistics – Survey 2024, available in English, Dutch and French here. The statistics provided concern the number of persons, not files (that may include several persons). The numbers provided by the CGRS may sometimes slightly differ from the number published online; for this report, the numbers provided directly by the CGRS are used.
[5] Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex – annual aggregated data, Consulted on 18 March 2025, available here.
[6] The rates are calculated based on in merit decisions only, excluding non-in merit rejections. Contrary to the first table of this report, the current table provides the number of files in which a decision was taken, not the number of persons. One file may include several persons.
[7] The CALL can cancel decisions and send the file back to the CGRS, if it believes that it does not have sufficient information to make an informed decision on an appeal. In this case, the CGRS is required to provide addition information and arguments after which it can give a new decision to the applicant. This is listed as ‘other’ in this table
[8] Statistics CGRS, available here; Annual report CALL, available here.