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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]
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2022
| Applicants in 2022 (1) | Pending at end of 2022 (2) | Refugee status[3] | Subsidiary protection[4] | Rejection (3) | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | |
| Total | 36,871 | 16,415 | 10,632 | 429 | 13,041 | 44,1% | 1,8% | 54,1% |
| Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers: | ||||||||
| Afghanistan | 6,156 | n/a | 2,467 | 9 | 3,136 | 43,9% | 0,2% | 55.9% |
| Syria | 3,545 | n/a | 2,499 | 37 | 445 | 83,8% | 1,2% | 14,9% |
| Palestine | 2,802 | n/a | 760 | 23 | 719 | 50,6% | 1,5% | 47,9% |
| Burundi | 2,736 | n/a | 358 | 0 | 82 | 81,4% | n/a | 18,6% |
| Eritrea | 1,953 | n/a | 1.357 | 0 | 185 | 88% | n/a | 12% |
| Türkiye | 1,728 | n/a | 546 | 0 | 207 | 72,5% | n/a | 27,5% |
| Georgia | 1,026 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Moldavia | 980 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Guinea | 902 | n/a | 245 | 1 | 562 | 30,3% | 0,1% | 69,6% |
| Iran[5] | 895 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Source: CGRS, Figures, available in English, Dutch and French at: https://bit.ly/3uk6M9L.
(1) ‘Applicants in 2022’ refers to the total amount of applicants for both first and subsequent applications for international protection. 4,652 of these (12,6%, compared to 20,9 % in 2021) are persons who filed a subsequent application for international protection. 32,141 of these are persons who filed a first application for international protection, and another 78 are persons who filed a first application after resettlement to Belgium.
(2) ‘Pending at the end of 2022’ concerns the total amount of cases that are still pending, regardless of whether the application was lodged in 2022 or previous years. The 16,415 pending cases involved 19,157 applicants. The workload increased slightly in 2022: 16,415 cases pending vs 15,685 cases at the end of 2021.
(3) ‘Rejection’ covers the number of persons who received a decision refusing refugee status and refusing subsidiary protection status (total: 7,742) and those whose applications were declared inadmissible after subsequent applications and towards beneficiaries of international protection in another member state (total: 4,253) or were declared manifestly unfounded (total: 1,046).
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2022
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 36,871 | – |
| Men | 26,031 | 70,6% |
| Women | 10,840 | 29.4% |
| Unaccompanied children | 2,394 (decl. 3,615) | 6.5% (decl. 9.8%) |
Source: CGRS, Figures, available in English, Dutch and French at: https://bit.ly/3uk6M9L.
* 3,615 applicants declared being unaccompanied minors at the moment of their application for international protection (an increase of 12,3% compared to 2021). After the age assessment, 2,394 of them were indeed considered unaccompanied minors. These numbers concern the situation at the start of January 2022. The Immigration Office will further actualise these numbers throughout the year based on the results of ongoing age assessment tests.
Appeal decision rates: 2022
| Appeal | ||
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 5,042 | 100% |
| Positive decisions | 240 | 4.76% |
| Refugee status | 193 | 3.83% |
| Subsidiary protection | 47 | 0.93% |
| Negative decisions | 4,019 | 79.71% |
| Annulments | 783 | 15.53% |
Source: CALL Activity report 2022.[6]
Subsequent applications
| Subsequent applicants by 5 main countries of origin: 2022 | |
| Country | Number |
| Afghanistan | 394 |
| Iran | 341 |
| Palestine | 302 |
| Syria | 274 |
| Georgia | 186 |
| Other countries | 3,155 |
| Total | 4,652 |
Source: CGRS, Asylum statistics 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.
[3] This concerns the total number of persons in whose case a decision has been taken in 2022, regardless of whether the application was lodged in 2022 or in previous year.
[4] This concerns the total number of persons in whose case a decision has been taken in 2022, regardless of whether the application was lodged in 2022 or in previous year.
[5] In the contact meeting of Myria in January 2023, the CGRS indicated that the total recognition rate (refugee and subsidiary protection status) for applicants from Iran in 2022 was 38.8%. Myria, Contact meeting 25 January 2023, available in French and Dutch at: https://bit.ly/3KATnSl, 23.
[6] More statistics available in the activity report: http://bit.ly/3nQHrmA.