Author
Overview of statistical practice
Statistics in Spain are collected by the Office on Asylum and Refuge (OAR) and published on an annual basis by the Ministry of Interior.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: figures for 2025
| Applicants in 2025 (1) | Pending for admission at 1st instance at
end of 2025 |
Pending for decision at End of 2025 | Total decisions in 2025 (2) | Total in merit decisions | Total rejection (3) | In merit rejection | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Humanitarian protection (4) | ||
| Total | 144,396 | 97,275 | 121,456 | 75,274 | N/A | 68,321 | N/A | 7,838 | 10,103 | 57,333 | |
|
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
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| Venezuela | 85,413 | ||||||||||
| Mali | 16,004 | ||||||||||
| Colombia | 14,524 | ||||||||||
| Peru | 3,511 | ||||||||||
| Senegal | 3,333 | ||||||||||
Source: Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, ‘Dirección General de protección Internacional, Avance de datos de protección internacional, aplicación del Reglamento de Dublín y reconocimiento del estatuto de apátrida. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2025’, January 2026, available here.
(1) Applications refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
(2) This number includes positive decisions on refugee status, subsidiary protection and humanitarian protection.
(3) This number includes rejection of refugee status and subsidiary protection.
(4) Humanitarian protection is foreseen by Article 46 of the Asylum Law, and it is granted by the same asylum authorities. It is commonly granted according to exceptional circumstances of vulnerability, health issues, psychological conditions, etc. The law does not foresee a closed list of circumstances determining the protection for humanitarian reasons, and the jurisprudence considers that such conditions have to be related to the return of the applicant to the country of origin and how this fact would impact his/her vulnerability. Applicants of international protection who are granted humanitarian protection have the right to remain in the country.
The top 5 countries of persons granted any form of international protection (refugee status and subsidiary protection) in 2025 were Mali (8,286), Nicaragua (1,498), Colombia (1,329), Palestine (1,097), and Afghanistan (817), while the top 5 countries of persons who were granted protection for humanitarian reasons were Venezuela (56,259), Colombia (402), Peru (255), Chile (1468), and Argentina (63).
The top 5 countries of applications rejected were Colombia (30,073), Peru (12,079), Senegal (6,676), Morocco (3,460), and Honduras (2,835).
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2025
| Adults | Children (Accompanied and unaccompanied) | |
| Number | 118,843 | 25,553 |
| Percentage | 82.3% | 17.7% |
| Men | Women | |
| Number | 84,799 | 59,597 |
| Percentage | 58.73% | 41.27% |
Source: Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, ‘Dirección General de protección Internacional, Avance de datos de protección internacional, aplicación del Reglamento de Dublín y reconocimiento del estatuto de apátrida. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2025’, January 2026, available here.
Note: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults.
In 2025, UNHCR informed that asylum applications from women and girls have tripled in the last three years in Spain. Concretely, Spain has granted refugee status on gender grounds to 1,588 women and girls, a figure that represents 65% of the total number of women and girls who have been granted asylum in 2025.1
First instance and appeal decision rates: 2025
National authorities did not provide detailed statistics on first instance and second instance decisions on 2025 at the time of writing of this report.