Author
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 2023, 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 statistics on France provided to Eurostat were incomplete until 2020 insofar as these were based on OFPRA figures;
- 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 clearly 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 usually higher than the reported number of applications lodged with OFPRA.
In 2022, 156,103 persons were registered as asylum seekers by the Ministry of Interior (compared to 121,368 in 2021), of which 137,046 as first applicants (104,381 in 2021) and 19,057 as subsequent applicants (16,987 in 2021). For its part, OFPRA reported a total of 130,933 asylum seekers (compared to 103,164 in 2021). The latter include requalifiés from previous years (not included in 2021 GUDA statistics) and people whose asylum application is not registered in GUDA (i.e. asylum claims in detention and persons arriving through resettlement programmes).
According to the Ministry of Interior, the nationality breakdown of people registered in GUDA for the first 10 countries of origin in 2022 was as follows: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Türkiye, Georgia, DR Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Albania, Pakistan, Nigeria.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2022
Detailed statistics on applications and first instance decisions were not made available by the national authorities at the time of writing of this report. The only indicative statistics published by the Ministry of Interior indicate a total of 156,103 applicants for international protection, out of which 137,046 first-time applicants and 19,057 subsequent applicants. The main nationalities represented were Afghanistan, followed by the Bangladesh, Türkiye, Georgia and DRC.[5]
As regards decisions on international protection, OFPRA indicated that the overall protection rate at first instance stood at 29% % in 2022.[6] A detailed breakdown by nationality was not available at the time of writing of this report.
The following statistics are based on Eurostat statistics, which must be read with caution as they include inadmissibility decisions in rejections. Moreover, data on applications are not those related those cases that will go to the first instance procedure but include all applications registered by authorities (including asylum seeker under Dublin regulation).
| Applicants in 2022 | Pending at the end of 2022 | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Rejection | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | |
| Total | 156,455 | 142,940 | 29,305 | 6,235 | 94,195 | 22.6% | 4.8% | 72.6% |
| Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers | ||||||||
| Afghanistan | 23,755 | 23,605 | 11,585 | 75 | 5,235 | 68.6% | 0.4% | 31.0% |
| Türkiye | 11,420 | 11,135 | 1,160 | 40 | 6,805 | 14.5% | 0.5% | 85.0% |
| Bangladesh | 11,295 | 12,045 | 350 | 115 | 7,455 | 4.4% | 1.5% | 94.1% |
| Georgia | 9,785 | 5,290 | 165 | 215 | 7,265 | 2.2% | 2.8% | 95.0% |
| DRC | 7,285 | 6,615 | 1,110 | 205 | 3,970 | 21.0% | 3.9% | 75.1% |
| Guinea | 7,225 | 6,435 | 1,720 | 115 | 3,695 | 31.1% | 2.1% | 66.8% |
| Albania | 6,735 | 3,640 | 155 | 540 | 6,500 | 2.2% | 7.5% | 90.3% |
| Ivory Coast | 6,635 | 5,635 | 1,640 | 165 | 4,900 | 24.5% | 2.5% | 73.1% |
| Pakistan | 5,075 | 7,345 | 185 | 50 | 3,160 | 5.4% | 1.5% | 93.1% |
| Nigeria | 3,940 | 3,920 | 275 | 45 | 4,245 | 6.0% | 1.0% | 93.0% |
Source: Eurostat.
* Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.
* “Rejection” includes inadmissibility decisions, as under the available data they are not distinguished.
* “Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2022
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 156,455 | 100% |
| Men (incl. children) | 104,190 | 66.6% |
| Women (incl. children) | 52,270 | 33.4% |
| Children | 37,025 | 23.7% |
| Unaccompanied children | 1,000 | 0.6% |
Source: Eurostat. These figures may differ from the forthcoming figures that will be published by national authorities later in 2022 that were not yet available by the time of writing of this report.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2022
| First instance (provisional) | Appeal (definitive) | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 129,735 | 100% | 67,142 | 100% |
| Positive decisions | 35,540 | 28.5% | 14,450 | 21.5% |
|
29,305 | 22.6% | 10,513 | 15.7% |
|
6,235 | 4.8% | 3,937 | 5.9% |
| Negative decisions | 94,195 | 72.6% | 52,692 | 78,5% |
Sources:
- These figures may differ from the forthcoming figures that will be published by national authorities later in 2022 that were not yet available by the time of writing of this report.
- Cour nationale du droit d’asile, Activity report 2022; available in French at: https://bit.ly/3GCMs90.
[1] OFPRA, Rapports d’activité, available in French at: http://bit.ly/3my3uOr.
[2] CNDA, Rapports annuels, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3wMbqh9.
[3] Ministry of Interior, Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile, 26 January 2023, available in French at: http://bit.ly/4039KeI.
[4] For a discussion, see Forum refugies, ‘Asile : comprendre et analyser les données statistiques’, 14 January 2022, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3wgljmr.
[5] Ministry of Interior, Chiffres clés – Les demandes d’asile, 26 January 2023 available in French at: http://bit.ly/4039KeI.
[6] OFPRA, ‘Les premières données de l’asile 2022 à l’OFPRA sont disponibles [chiffres provisoires]’, 17 January 2023, available in French at: https://bit.ly/3QTlgXc.