Statistics - Asylum Information Database | European Council on Refugees and Exiles

Country Report: Statistics Last updated: 16/04/25

Author

Cyprus Refugee Council Visit Website

Overview of statistical practice

The Asylum Service, a department of the Ministry of Interior, is the authority responsible for asylum-related statistical collection in Cyprus. The below statistics have been provided by the Asylum Service.

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: figures for 2024 (1)

	Applicants in 2024 (2)	Pending at end of 2024	Total people affected by decisions in 2024 (3)	Total in merit (4)	Total rejection (5)	In merit rejection (6)	Refugee status	Subsidiary protection
Total	8,664	20,576	16,103	9,948	11,974	6,164	1,316	2,466
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
Syria	4,277	13,793				16	48	1,756
Nigeria	554	288				995	77	6
Afghanistan	446	1280				70	183	21
Iran	443	586				96	86	3
Somalia	366	486				255	143	382
DR Congo	316	1,816				1,487	72	9
Cameroon	223	407				1,490	127	144
India	197	25				83	1	1
Pakistan	195	19				84	6	6
Bangladesh	191	30				64	5	0

Source: Asylum Service.

Note 1: All statistics concern people, including children and dependents.

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

Note 3: Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.

Note 4: Includes decisions granting refugee status, subsidiary protection and rejections.

Note 5: includes all rejections decisions, including inadmissibility and withdrawals.

Note 6: These only include negative decisions on the merit of the application. It does not cover inadmissibility decisions.

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: rates for 2024

	Overall rejection rate (2)	In merit rejection rate (1) (3)	Overall protection rate (2)	In merit protection rate (1) (3)	Refugee rate (1)	Subsidiary protection rate (1)
Total	74.35%	61.96%	23.49%	38.03%	13.23%	24.79%
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
Syria	0.09%				0.29%	14.68%
Nigeria	6.17%				0.64%	0.04%
Afghanistan	0.43%				0.98%	0.21%
Iran	0.59%				0.48%	0.01%
Somalia	1.58%				0.71%	3.38%
DR Congo	9.23%				0.57%	0.08%
Cameroon	9.25%				1.02%	0.82%
India	0.51%				0.01%	0.01%
Pakistan	0.52%				0.06%	0.01%
Bangladesh	0.39%				0.03%	0%

Source of the percentages: Cyprus Refugee Council

Note 1: These rates are calculated based on in merit decisions only, excluding non in merit rejections.

Note 2: These rates are calculated based on total decisions.

Note 3: See Admissibility procedure.

Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2024

	Adults	Children
	Adults	Accompanied	Unaccompanied
Number	6,102	844	656
Percentage	80%	11%	9%

	Men	Women
Number	6,487	2,177
Percentage	74%	26%

Source: Cyprus Asylum Service, percentages by ECRE

Note 1: The gender breakdown concerns applicants that entered the First Reception Center, Pournara. It does not include applicants that entered or remained legally in Cyprus.

Note 2: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults.

First instance and appeal decision rates: 2024

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. Contrary to the table p8 (which presented numbers regarding people affected by decisions), this table is based on the number of decisions (one decision may affect multiple asylum applicants).

	First instance	Appeal
	Number	Number
Total number of decisions	13,612	4,672
Positive decisions
Refugee status	803	25
Subsidiary protection	2,020	4
Other (1)[1]
Negative decisions	5,616	1,499
Explicit Withdrawal/ Implicit Withdrawal	2,659	2,043/1,061

Source: Asylum Service and IPAC

* The total number of decisions includes all decisions issued by the Asylum service and the IPAC, including positive decisions, rejections, implicit and explicit withdrawals and decisions on inadmissible applications.

Note: If the IPAC accepts the appeal, the decision of the Asylum Service will be cancelled. The IPAC has the jurisdiction to either return the decision to the Asylum Service to be reviewed and a new decision will be issued or the IPAC may grant refugee status or subsidiary protection directly.[2]

International Protection Administrative Court (IPAC): At the end of 2020, there were 1,100 pending appeals before the IPAC. Throughout 2021, the number of pending appeals registered a sharp increase, reaching a total of 6,537 at the end of the year. In December 2022, the number of pending appeals in both the regular and accelerated procedure had reached 6,609, corresponding to 6,814 persons. In December 2023, the number of pending appeals in both the regular and accelerated procedure were 4,897 corresponding to 5,073 persons. In December 2024, the number of pending appeals in both the regular and accelerated procedure were 6,583 corresponding to 6,986 persons.

Refugee Reviewing Authority: Operations ceased in December 2020 and at the time approximately 400 cases were not concluded and were transferred back to the Asylum Service. In 2022 the Asylum Service set up a team to examine these cases. At the end of 2023, 281 decisions had been issued, of which 54 were granted refugee status; 23 subsidiary protection; 127 rejections; 28 explicit withdrawals and 49 implicit withdrawals; and 89 cases remain pending. In 2024, 52 cases were examined, which corresponded to 93 persons, of which 15 were granted refugee status; 5 granted subsidiary protection; 19 rejections; 4 explicit withdrawals; 7 implicit withdrawals; 1 unequivocal renunciation of subsidiary protection, and;1 was cessation of subsidiary protection. 37 cases remained pending by the end of 2024.[3]

^{[1] Order to Review, see section below on Appeals.}

^{[2] Article 11 IPAC Law.}

^{[3] Information provided by the Cyprus Asylum Service.}

Author

Table of contents