Statistics

Bulgaria

Country Report: Statistics Last updated: 08/05/26

Author

Bulgarian Helsinki Committee Visit Website

Overview of statistical practice

The State Agency for Refugees (SAR) publishes monthly statistical reports on asylum applicants and main nationalities, as well as overall first instance decisions.[1] Further information is shared with non-governmental organisations in the context of the National Coordination Mechanism. The Ministry of Interior also publishes monthly reports on the migration situation, which include figures on apprehension, capacity, and occupancy of reception centres.[2]

 Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2025

  Applicants in 2025 (1) Pending at

end of 2025

Total decisions in 2025 (2) Total substantive decisions (3) Refugee status Subsidiary protection Humanitarian protection (4) Rejection (5)
Total 3,895 1,632 7,090 4,662 62 897 3,703
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
Azerbaijan 3 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Albania 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Algeria 60 4 64 57 0 2 0 55
Armenia 12 0 3 2 0 0 0 2
Afghanistan 943 494 1,461 327 1 12 0 314
Bangladesh 4 0 12 10 0 0 0 10
Stateless 36 4 51 42 6 10 0 26
Belarus 2 0 5 5 1 0 0 4
Burkina Faso 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
United Kingdom 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Venezuela 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Vietnam 5 0 2 1 0 1 0
Gambia 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
Ghana 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Guinea 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Georgia 1 0 3 2 0 0 0 2
Dominican Republic 3 0 3 3 0 0 0 3
DR Congo (Zaire) 6 0 8 6 0 0 0 6
Zimbabwe 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Egypt 102 13 208 31 0 0 0 31
Ecuador 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Israel 7 0 6 6 0 0 0 6
India 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Iraq 545 84 547 412 1 6 0 405
Iran 99 91 74 40 0 2 0 38
Jordan 7 0 9 5 0 0 0 5
Kazakhstan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cameroon 10 0 9 8 0 0 0 8
Kenya 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Kyrgyzstan 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Colombia 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Congo 4 0 3 3 0 0 0 3
Côte D’Ivoire 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
Cuba 1 0 2 2 0 0 0 2
Libya 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Lebanon 7 0 16 16 0 8 0 8
Mali 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Morocco 967 65 986 937 0 1 0 936
Moldova 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Nepal 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Nigeria 7 0 3 3 0 0 0 3
Pakistan 94 35 96 82 4 0 0 78
Russian Federation 16 0 51 48 5 0 0 43
USA 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Senegal 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 1
Sierra Leone 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Syria 823 622 3,327 2,497 42 851 0 1,604
Somalia 2 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Sudan 3 0 7 6 2 1 0 3
Tajikistan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tanzania 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Tunisia 20 0 22 18 0 0 0 18
Turkmenistan 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
Turkey 65 18 70 62 0 0 0 62
Uganda 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
Uzbekistan 4 0 3 1 0 0 0 1
Haiti 3 0 5 5 0 2 0 3
Sri Lanka 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Japan 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1

Source: State Agency for Refugees.

 

(1) “Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, not only to first-time applicants.

(2) Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.

(3) The total 7,090 decisions issued include 4,662 substantive decisions (status granting, status refusals, inadmissibility and manifestly unfounded decisions) and 2,428 decisions terminating asylum procedures due to absconding.

(4) The national law does not provide for any other form of additional protection except the humanitarian statuses, which is based on article 15 QD, i.e. it is a term used to transpose this article of the Qualification Directive into national law.

(5) “Rejection” only covers negative decisions on the merit of the application, regardless of whether issued in accelerated or regular procedure.

 

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2025

Total Substantive rejection rate Substantive protection rate Refugee rate Subsidiary

protection rate

Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
3,703 80% 959 20% 62 1% 897 19%
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
Afghanistan 314 96% 13 4% 1 0.3% 12 3.7%
Albania 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Algeria 55 96% 2 3,51% 0 0% 2 3.5%
Armenia 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Azerbaijan 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Bangladesh 10 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Belarus 4 80% 1 20% 1 20% 0 0%
Burkina Faso 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Cameroon 8 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Colombia 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Congo 3 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Côte D’Ivoire 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Cuba 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Dominican Republic 3 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
DR Congo (Zaire) 6 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Ecuador 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Egypt 31 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Gambia 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Georgia 2 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Ghana 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Haiti 3 60% 2 40% 0 0% 2 40%
India 1 100% 0 0% 0 00% 0 0%
Iran 38 95% 2 5% 0 0% 2 5%
Iraq 405 98.3% 7 1.7% 1 0.2% 6 1.5%
Israel 6 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Japan 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Jordan 5 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Kenya 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Lebanon 8 50% 8 50% 0 0% 8 50%
Libya 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Mali 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Moldova 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Morocco 936 99.9% 1 0,1% 0 0% 1 0,1%
Nepal 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Nigeria 3 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Pakistan 78 95.1% 4 4.9% 4 4.9% 0 0%
Russian Federation 43 89.6% 5 10.4% 5 10% 0 0%
Senegal 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Somalia 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Stateless 26 61.9% 16 38.1% 6 14% 10 23.8%
Sudan 3 50% 3 50% 2 33% 1 16.7%
Syria 1,604 64.2% 893 35.8% 42 1.7% 851 34%
Tanzania 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Tunisia 18 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Türkiye 62 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Turkmenistan 0 0% 1 100% 0 0% 1 100%
Venezuela 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Vietnam 0 0% 1 100% 0 0% 1 100%
Uganda 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
USA 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%
Uzbekistan 1 100% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0%

Source: State Agency for Refugees. Calculations made by the author based on official data on asylum. decisions.

Note: These rates are calculated based on substantive decisions only (including inadmissibility), excluding terminations of procedure due to absconding.

 

Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2025

  Adults Children
Accompanied Unaccompanied
Number 2,870 573 452
Percentage 100% 56% 44%
  Men Women
Number 3,350 545
Percentage 86% 14%

Source: State Agency for Refugees.

 

First instance and appeal decision rates: 2025

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 4,662 100% 2,206 100%
Positive decisions 959 21% 0 0%
  • Refugee status
62 1%
  • Subsidiary protection
897 19% 0 0%
Negative decisions 3,773 79% 2,206 100%

Source: State Agency for Refugees.

Court revocation rates: 2025

  First court instance (regional adm. court) Final instance (Supreme adm. court)
  Number Percentage Number Percentage
Total court decisions 2,352 100% 1,376 100%
Revoked negative 254 11% 112* 8%
Sustained refusals 2,098 89% 1,264 92%

Source:  State Agency for Refugees.

* The Supreme administrative court issued 13 decisions, which revoked the ones of the lower courts due to procedural violations and reverted cases back to them for a retrial.

 

 

 

[1]          SAR, Statistics and reports, available at: https://bit.ly/2ur0Y1a.

[2]          Ministry of Interior, Migration statistics, available at: https://bit.ly/48C57wC.

Table of contents

  • Statistics
  • Overview of the legal framework
  • Overview of the of the main changes since the previous report update
  • Asylum Procedure
  • Reception Conditions
  • Detention of Asylum Seekers
  • Content of International Protection
  • ANNEX – Transposition of the CEAS in national legislation
  • Annex II – EU Pact on Migration and Asylum