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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 reports of the Contact Group on International Protection, bringing together national authorities, UNHCR and civil society organisations.[2]
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2021
| Applicants in 2021 | Pending at end 2021* (1) | Refugee status (2) | Subsidiary protection (2) | Rejection** (2) | Protection rate (3) | Protection rate (excl. inadmissibility decisions) | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Rejection rate (4) | |
| Total |
25,971
|
15,685 |
9,222
|
871 | 11,817 | 43.5 % | 58.3 % | 39.4 % | 4.5 % | 56.5 % |
| Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers | ||||||||||
| Afghanistan | 6,506 | 4,911 | 816 | 359 | 1,197 | 46.3 % | 75,8 % | 29.6% | 16.7% | 53.7 % |
| Syria | 2,874 | 1,086 | 2.271 | 153 | 665 | 77.0 % | 96.5 % | 71.6% | 5.4% | 23.0 % |
| Palestine | 1,662 | 992 | 1.502 | 5 | 1,089 | 58.0 % | 73.2 % | 57.7% | 0.2% | 42.0 % |
| Eritrea | 1,558 | 540 | 1.229 | 0 | 178 | 85.2 % | 95.7 % | 85.2% | 0.0% | 14.8 % |
| Somalia | 1,116 | 913 | 164 | 66 | 353 | 37.5 % | 60.8 % | 26.0% | 11.5% | 62.5 % |
| Iraq | 941 | 690 | 133 | 15 | 785 | 13.3 % | 38.3 % | 12.0% | 1.3% | 86.7 % |
| Guinea | 745 | 962 | 209 | 2 | 530 | 27.2 % | 38.6 % | 26.9% | 0.3% | 72.8 % |
| Turkey | 658 | 867 | 374 | 0 | 199 | 63.1 % | 73.2 % | 63.1% | 0.0% | 36.9 % |
| Georgia | 593 | 165 | 19 | 0 | 184 | 10.7 % | 12.3 % | 10.7% | 0.0% | 89.3 % |
| Albania | 588 | 179 | 7 | 8 | 457 | 3.4 % | 4.9 % | 2.0% | 1.4% | 96.6 % |
Source: CGRS.
(1) This concerns the total number of persons whose application is still pending, regardless of whether the application was lodged in 2021 or in previous years.
(2) This concerns the total number of persons in whose case a decision has been taken in 2021, regardless of whether the application was lodged in 2021 or in previous year.
(3) The protection rate is the proportion of cases (one case can include several persons) for which the CGRS granted refugee status or subsidiary protection status in relation to the total number of cases in which a final decision was taken (= the total number of decisions – interim decisions) – withdrawals & cessations.
(4) The total rejection rate includes inadmissibility decisions after subsequent applications and towards beneficiaries of international protection in another member state, as in the information provided by the CGRS inadmissibility decisions were counted together with rejections on the merits. To filter these decisions and give a view of the protection rate in ‘new’ asylum cases, a dedicated column in which the protection rate is calculated based only on decisions on the merits is added.
* The 15,685 pending cases concerned 18,835 applicants.
** Out of the 11,817 decision registered as rejected, 5,169 were cases declared as ‘non-admissible’, 607 as ‘manifestly unfounded’ and rejected in the accelerated procedure, while the actual rejections on the merits were 6,041.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2021
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 25,971 | – |
| Men (incl. children) | 18,811 | 72.4 % |
| Women (incl. children) | 7,160 | 27.6 % |
| Children | 8,446 | 32.5 % |
| Unaccompanied children (1) | 1,976 (3,219 decl.) | 7.6 % (12.4 % decl.) |
Source: CGRS.
3,129 applicants declared being unaccompanied minor at the moment of their application for international protection. After age assessment, 1.976 of them were indeed considered unaccompanied minors; 1,243 were declared to be of age. These numbers concern the situation at the start of January 2022. The Immigration Office will further actualise these numbers throughout the year on the basis of the results of ongoing age assessment tests.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2021
No statistics on appeal decision rates were available as of 5 April 2022.
[1] CGRS, Figures, available in English, Dutch and French at: https://bit.ly/3uk6M9L.
[2] Myria, Contact group international protection, available in French and Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3sE592s.