Statistics

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Overview of statistical practice

The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) publishes a yearly statistical report providing information on asylum applications: number and place of application, gender and age, continents of origin, nationalities, unaccompanied children, types of residence permits, resettlement, relocation and humanitarian admission.[1] As of May 2026, there is no publicly available report for 2025.

The Migration Observatory (Observatório das Migrações) is a body within AIMA’s structure whose mission is to produce, collect, process and disseminate information and knowledge on the phenomenon of migration. As of May 2026, there is no publicly available report on asylum for 2025.[2]

Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2025[3]

 Source: AIMA, information provided directly in May 2026. Calculations by the author.

The rejection figures indicated above include inadmissibility decisions as well as in-merit rejections adopted in accelerated procedures. AIMA did not provide the number of rejections adopted within the regular procedure in 2025.

As further explained in the corresponding section of the report, in the national system, an application is examined on the merits in a regular procedure if it is deemed admissible (and not processed under an accelerated procedure) or if the determining authority does not comply with the corresponding time limit. Decisions deeming an application admissible to the regular procedure are not included in the table above as they do not grant/refuse protection to the applicant concerned.[6] According to information provided by AIMA in response to an information request, in 2025, 700 admissibility decisions were issued.

Granting of protection status at first instance: decisions in 2025

AIMA did not provide protection rates or disaggregated data on decisions (positive/negative) for the top 10 nationalities of applicants detailed above. According to Eurostat,[7] no applicants from the main 10 nationalities received protection decisions in 2025 – all had a 100% rejection rates. According to Eurostat information, the overall protection rate stood at 33.5%, all refugee decisions, with no subsidiary protection decisions.

According to AIMA, 457 applicants were granted refugee status and 1 applicant was granted subsidiary protection in 2025. The main countries of origin for those granted refugee status were Afghanistan (247), Syria (99), Sudan (41), Iran (28), Eritrea (18), South Sudan (14) and Ethiopia (5), as well as Yemen, Djibouti and Somalia.[8] 30 applicants from Afghanistan received a national form of protection, humanitarian protection. However, as the data provided did not include the number of negative decisions for these nationalities, it is impossible to put these numbers in perspective via a protection rate. This data would also confirm that no person from the main 10 nationalities of applicants received protection decisions in 2025.

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

Source: AIMA, information provided directly in May 2026. Percentages calculated by the author.

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

According to Eurostat data:

• A total of 1,760 asylum applications were registered in Portugal in 2024.^[9]
• 1,375 first instance final decisions were adopted by the authorities, out of which 915 were rejections and 460 were decisions granting international protection.^[10]
• Out of 460 decisions granting international protection, 455 recognised refugee status and 0 granted subsidiary protection.^[11]
• 1,130 applicants had their asylum applications processed under an accelerated procedure.^[12]
• By the end of the year, 8,595 asylum applications were pending.^[13]

Information on appeals: 2025

According to the High Council of Administrative and Fiscal Courts (Conselho Superior dos Tribunais Administrativos e Fiscais, CSTAF), in 2025, the Administrative Circle Court (Tribunal Administrativo de Círculo, TAC) of Lisbon and the Administrative and Fiscal Courts of Braga, Penafiel, Porto, Viseu, Aveiro, Coimbra, Leiria, Sintra, Almada, Beja and Loulé were the Courts with a specific registration string pertaining to asylum-related appeals.^[14] Unlike previous years, Higher Courts are also collected autonomous data on asylum-related processes, with the Central Administrative Courts (TCA) North and South, and the Supreme Administrative Court (STA) with a specific registration string.

In 2025, a total of 510 appeals against negative decisions were filed in national first instance courts, representing an increase of approximately 11% compared to 2024 (459 appeals).

TAC Lisbon continued to be (by far) the first instance court adjudicating the majority of asylum-related cases, with appeals further lodged in TAF Braga, TAF Penafiel, TAF Porto, TAF Viseu, TAF Aveiro, TAF Coimbra, TAF Leiria, TAF Sintra, TAF Almada, TAF Beja and TAF Loulé.

Those appeals concerned applicants of 55 nationalities, the most represented being China (89), Colombia (59), Angola (42), Venezuela (35), and Guinea (31). CSTAF did not provide a gender breakdown of applicants per appeal.

First instance courts issued 328 asylum-related appeal decisions, of which 86 were in favour of the applicant^[15] and 242 ruled against, representing an overall success rate of appeals^[16] of 26%. The average duration of appeals before first instance courts was of 77 days.

At second instance of appeals, 68 appeals were lodged against first instance appeal decisions, with courts issuing 62 decisions, of which 1 was in favour of the applicant and 61 ruled against. The average duration of appeals before second instance courts was of 55 days.

A further 14 appeals were lodged in the Supreme Administrative Court, of which only one was accepted for review.

The available data does not consistently make a distinction between the type of asylum procedure, nor does it allow for a breakdown of decision rates per type of procedure.

[1] AIMA, Yearly Report on Migration and Asylum, available here.

[2] As an autonomous unit of the now dissolved High Commissioner for Migration (ACM), the Migration Observatory published a yearly report on asylum. The latest available version was published in July 2023. All published reports are available here.

[3] Data marked with “:” is not included for data protection purposes. According to the Agency, the statistical data provided do not correspond to AIMA’s official figures for 2025. As of May 2026, the data for 2025 have not yet been consolidated, so the data provided for the report should be considered preliminary.

[4] According to the information provided by the Agency, this number includes spontaneous applicants, subsequent applications, and relocated asylum applicants.

[5] According to the information provided by the Agency, this number includes all applications still pending at the end of 2025, covering both cases pending administrative procedures and cases under judicial review. This is the total number of pending cases identified by AIMA regardless of the year of application. The total number of pending cases that were lodged in 2025 is 1,230.

[6] In its annual report for 2024, published in October 2025, AIMA notes that the decline in the granting of international protection that year was offset by an increase in the granting of provisional residence permits. Since the granting of a provisional residence permit does not grant international protection, it is unclear how this offset is considered to have occurred. See AIMA, Report on Migration and Asylum – 2024, October 2025, available here.

[7]  This data should be read with caution, as it is from a different source and does not correspond exactly with available AIMA figures, however the discrepancies are limited.

[8] Figures below five are not included in this description.

^[9] Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex – annual aggregated data, available here.

^[10] Eurostat, First instance decisions on asylum applications by type of decision – annual aggregated data, available here.

^[11] Ibid.

^[12] Eurostat, Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure, by age, sex and citizenship – annual aggregated data, available here.

^[13] Eurostat, Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex – monthly data, available here.

^[14] Until 2021, only TAC Lisbon had such a registration string.

^[15] According to CPR’s observation of national jurisprudence, instances where national courts decide to grant protection directly are traditionally extremely rare. While CPR receives a significant number of judicial decisions either through asylum applicants it supports or through their lawyers, the organisation does not process statistical data regarding judicial procedures.

^[16] Rates calculated by CPR based on the data provided by CSTAF. Success rates are based on the number of relevant decisions issued during the year.