Statistics

Author

Croatian Law Centre Visit Website

Overview of statistical practice

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: figures for 2025 (1)

Limited asylum statistics for 2025 can be found on the website of the Ministry of Interior (MOI).[1] However, publicly available statistics on a breakdown on the outcome of the procedure are not available. In 2025, 14,928 persons expressed their intention to apply for international protection (i.e., made an application for international protection) (11,269 male, 3,659 female).[2] The top 10 countries by number of applicants were: Russian Federation (3,227), Türkiye (2,597) Afghanistan (1,365), Egypt (1,364), Syria (1,253), Bangladesh (954), Pakistan (670), Palestine (527), China (485), and Morocco (473).

International protection was granted to 25 persons: 24 refugee status (of whom 5 men, 12 boys, 3 women and 4 girls) and 1 subsidiary protection (1 boy). Asylum (i.e., refugee status) was granted to citizens of the following countries of origin: Afghanistan (2), Burundi (1), DR Congo (2), Egypt (1), Eritrea (1), Iran (2), Cameroon (1), Malawi (1), Nigeria (3), Russian Federation (2), Syria (5), and Turkey (3), while subsidiary protection was granted to one person from Syria.[3]

Note 1: statistics on applicants and pending applications concern people, including children and dependents. The rest of the columns concern number of decisions as that is usually the (only) data available.

Note 2: “Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.

Note 3: Croatian asylum legislation does not foresee the possibility for asylum authorities to issue humanitarian protection decisions. However, the Law on Foreigners allows for the recognition of temporary stay on humanitarian grounds.

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

Source: Ministry of Interior, Statistics 2025, available at: https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/statistika/2026/1/Web%20statistika%2021.%20sijecnja%202026..xlsx;

Note: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults.

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.

Source: Ministry of Interior, Statistics 2025, available at: https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/statistika/2026/1/Web%20statistika%2021.%20sijecnja%202026..xlsx; Administrative Court of Zagreb, 4 February 2026; Administrative Court of Osijek, , 13 February 2026; Administrative Court of Rijeka, , 16 February 2026; Administrative Court of Split, 16 February 2026.

[1]           Ministry of Interior, Statistics 2025, available at:  https://mup.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/statistika/2026/1/Web%20statistika%2021.%20sijecnja%202026..xlsx.

[2]           In terms of Croatian legislation making an application is called “expressing the intention to submit/lodge application for international protection“.

[3]        Croatian Law Centre: The Croatian Asylum System in 2025- National Report; available at: https://www.hpc.hr/en/2026/06/17/2025-national-asylum-system-report/

[4]           Refugee statuses granted in 2025 do not necessarily correlate with applications submitted within the same year.

[5]           Subsidiary protection statuses granted in 2025 do not necessarily correlate with applications submitted within the same year.

[6]        The table includes the total number of decisions issued by administrative courts in 2024, as well as only selected types of decisions (i.e., judgments granting international protection and judgments on rejection in meritum). As a result, there is a discrepancy between the total number of decisions and the number of decisions broken down in this table.

[7]           This figure relates to the number of cases as opposed to the number of decisions. Specifically, for seven cases, one court did not indicate its disposition or whether the proceedings are still ongoing.