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Overview of statistical practice
In France, detailed statistics on asylum applications and first instance decisions are published annually by the Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) in its activity reports. The next OFPRA Activity Report will be published in spring 2021, several months after the end of the reporting year.[1] Statistics on the second instance procedure are to be found in the National Court of Asylum (CNDA) annual reports, which are also published several months after the end of their reporting period.[2]
However, thanks to “SI Asile”, an information system established by the Ministry of Interior in 2016, some provisional data are made available by the Ministry each year, in January.[3]
Discrepancies in statistics
The various sources of statistics provide different figures on the number of persons seeking asylum in France:[4]
- OFPRA statistics only cover persons who have lodged an asylum application with OFPRA. As discussed in Registration, those falling under a Dublin procedure are not allowed to lodge their claim. The Ministry of Interior admits that the statistics France provides to Eurostat are incomplete insofar as these are based on OFPRA figures;[5]
- Ministry of Interior statistics refer to persons registered at a “single desk” (guichet unique de demande d’asile, GUDA).
- Persons re-channelled from a Dublin procedure to a regular or accelerated procedure (requalifiés) do not appear in Ministry of Interior statistics if their application has been registered at the GUDA in previous years. They do, however, appear in OFPRA statistics.
- Persons arrived in resettlement programs and persons applying for asylum in detention are not registered at the GUDA but appear in OFPRA statistics.
Applications registered by the GUDA in France are higher than the reported number of applications lodged with OFPRA. In 2020, 93,426 persons have been registered as asylum seekers by the Ministry of Interior (compared to 151,283 in 2020), of which 81,669 as first applicants (138,420 in 2019) and 11,757 subsequent applicants (12,863 in 2019). For its part, OFPRA reported a total of 95,584 asylum seekers (compared to 132,826 in 2018). The latter include 7,519 requalifiés after being placed under Dublin procedure in 2020 (and requalifies from previous year – number unknown).
According to the Ministry of Interior, the nationality breakdown of people registered in GUDA for the first 10 countries of origin in 2020 was as follows: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Guinea, Turkey, Ivory Coast, Haiti, DRC, Ukraine, Somalia.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2020
| First time adults applicants in 2020 | Pending at end 2020 | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Rejection | Refugee rate | Subs. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | ||
| Total | 62,067 | – | 7,886 | 5,978 | 56,172 | 11.3% | 8.5% | 80.2% | |
| Afghanistan | 8,886 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Bangladesh | 4,345 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Pakistan | 3,426 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Guinea | 2,781 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Turkey | 2,771 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Ivory-Coast | 2,732 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Haiti | 2,448 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| DRC | 2,087 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Ukraine | 1,981 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Somalia | 1,950 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
Source: Ministry of Interior for “first time adults applicants in 2020” and OFPRA for the decisions (here: number of decisions, not persons)
Detailed statistics on decision-making, i.e. with a breakdown by nationality, were not made available by national authorities by the time of publication of this report.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2020
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | – | – |
| Men | – | – |
| Women | – | – |
| Children | – | – |
| Unaccompanied children | – | – |
A gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants was not available at the time of writing of this report.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2020
| First instance | Appeal | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 70,036 | 100% | 42,025 | 100% |
| Positive decisions | 24,118 | 19.8% | 10,254 | 24.4% |
| Refugee status | 7,886 | 11.3% | 6,116 | 14.6% |
| Subsidiary protection | 5,978 | 8.5% | 4,138 | 9.8% |
| Negative decisions | 56,172 | 80.2% | 31,771 | 75.6% |
Source: Ministry of Interior
[1] OFPRA, Rapports d’activité, available in French at: https://goo.gl/zA8i7X.
[2] CNDA, Rapports annuels, available in French at: http://www.cnda.fr/La-CNDA/Donnees-chiffrees-et-bilans.
[3] Ministry of Interior, Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile, available in French at: https://bit.ly/397TDpi.
[4] For a discussion, see La Cimade, ‘Premier bilan de la demande d’asile en France en 2018’, 16 February 2019, available in French at: https://goo.gl/9oAYkV.
[5] Ministry of Interior, Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile, available in French at: https://bit.ly/2TRCMzB.