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: 2022
| Applications lodged in 2022 | Pending for admission at 1st instance at end of 2022 | Pending for decision at end of 2022 | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Humanitarian protection | Rejection | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Hum. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | ||
| Total | 118,842 | 29,883 | 92,152 | 6,830 | 7,405 | 20,924 | 51,838 | 7.9% | 8.5% | 24% | 58.6% | |
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Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
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| Venezuela | 45,748 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| Colombia | 36,012 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| Peru | 8,937 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| Morocco | 3,905 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
| Honduras | 3,017 | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||
Source: Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, Dirección General de Política Interior, Avance de solicitudes y propuestas de resolución de protección internacional. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2022, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3KC9Feg.
*“Rejection” covers negative decisions on the merit of the application, not inadmissibility decisions.
**Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
The Spanish Ministry of Interior also provided limited statistical information at the beginning of 2023.[1] According to the latter, a total of 118,842 persons applied for international protection in Spain in 2022. The top 5 countries of origin were Venezuela (45,748), Colombia (36,012), Peru (8,937), Morocco (3,905) and Honduras (3,017).
As regards decision making at first instance, a total of 51,838 applications were rejected, while the refugee status was granted to 6,830 persons, subsidiary protection to 7,405 persons and 20,924 were granted protection for humanitarian reasons.
The top 5 countries of persons granted any form of international protection (refugee status and subsidiary protection) in 2022 were Mali (4,883), Afghanistan (1,535), Ukraine (1,337), Syria (1,297), and Colombia (658), while the top 5 countries of persons who were granted protection for humanitarian reasons were Venezuela (20,580), Colombia (193), Peru (26), Panama (23) and Chile (18).
The top 5 countries of applications rejected were Colombia (15,336), Venezuela (10,431), Morocco (3,542), Honduras (3,062) and Senegal (2,261).
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2022
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 118,842 | |
| Men | 64,219 | 54.04% |
| Women | 54,623 | 45.96% |
| Children | 21,309 | 17.93% |
| Unaccompanied children | N/A | N/A |
Source: Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, Dirección General de Política Interior, Avance de solicitudes y propuestas de resolución de protección internacional. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2022, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3KC9Feg.
Note: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults. The number of children includes both girls and boys.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2022
National authorities did not provide detailed statistics on first instance and second instance decisions at the time of writing of this report.
[1] Ministerio del Interior, Subsecretaría del Interior, Dirección General de Política Interior, Avance de solicitudes y propuestas de resolución de protección internacional. Datos provisionales acumulados entre el 1 de enero y el 31 de diciembre de 2022, January 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3KC9Feg.