Author
Overview of statistical practice
In Ukraine, the State Migration Service (SMS) publishes the following data regarding international protection: number of asylum applications for refugee status and status of a person in need of complementary protection; figures regarding the decisions of the SMS: granting the status, refusing, cancelling, withdrawing). Number of issued and extended documents: MSID, refugee certificate, and certificate of a person in need of complementary protection. The number of female and male beneficiaries of international protection.
The data is published in the format of a PDF file without the possibility to break it down or disaggregate it. The statistics are accessible on a quarterly and annual basis.
As detailed under Regular procedure, the asylum procedure in Ukraine takes place in two stages, starting with a preliminary stage, at the end of which the authorities either reject the application or decide to proceed with further examination. Data on these two stages is presented in separate tables in the statistics below.
Decisions at the preliminary stage of asylum applications: figures for 2024
| Total decisions at the
preliminary stage in 2024 |
Number of “negative” decisions
at preliminary stage |
Number of “positive” decisions at preliminary stage
(decisions to send the case to further examination) |
| 86 | 17 | 69 |
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance, in the further examination procedure: figures for the year 2024 (1)
| Applicants in 2024 (2) | New and ongoing cases throughout 2024[1] | Total decisions in 2024[2] (3) | Total rejections upon further examination | Refugee status | National complementary protection | |
| Total | 106[3] | 810 | 216 | 163 | 5 | 48 |
| Breakdown by 10 main countries of origin of the total number | ||||||
| Russia | 34 | 39[4] | 59 | 27 | 1 | 31 |
| Tajikistan | 17 | 18[5] | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| Belarus | 8 | 6 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Nigeria | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Syrian Arab Republic | 5 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| Stateless persons | 3 | 3 | n/a | n/a | 0 | 3 |
| Azerbaijan | 2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0 | 0 |
| Afghanistan | 2 | 4 | 38 | 36 | 0 | 2 |
| Georgia | 2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0 | 1 |
| Cameroon | 2 | 2 | n/a | n/a | 0 | 0 |
Source: SMS statistics for 2024; SMS’ responses to the R2P request for public information, April 2025.
Note 1: statistics on applicants and pending concern people, including children and dependents. The rest of the columns concern number of decisions.
Note 2: “Applicants in year” refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
Note 3: Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance, in the further examination procedure: rates for 2024
Please note that these rate calculations do not take into account the negative decisions made at the preliminary stage, as this does not correspond to the general approach to calculating such statistics. At the same time, these figures should be revised in the future to synchronize the statistics.
| Rejection rate | Overall
protection rate |
Refugee rate | Complementary
protection rate |
|
| Total | 75% | 25% | 2.4% | 22.6% |
| Russia | 45.8% | 54.2% | 1.7% | 52.5% |
| Tajikistan | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Belarus | 42.9% | 57.1% | 7.1% | 50% |
| Nigeria | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Syrian Arab Republic | 70% | 30% | 0% | 30% |
| Stateless persons | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Azerbaijan | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Afghanistan | 94.7% | 5.3% | 0% | 5.3% |
| Georgia | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Cameroon | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Source of the percentages: SMS statistics for 2024; SMS’ responds to the R2P request for public information, April 2025.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2024
| Men | Women | |
| Number | 71 | 35 |
| Percentage | 67% | 33% |
| Adults | Children | ||
| Accompanied | Unaccompanied | ||
| Number | 106 | 16[1] | 0 |
| Percentage | 85% | 15% | 0% |
Source: SMS statistics for 2024; SMS’ responds to the R2P request for public information, April 2025.
Note: The gender breakdown (Men/Women) applies to all applicants, not only adults. Minor children are included in the same application as their parents.
First instance and appeal decision rates: 2024
Data on appeals was not available for 2024.
[1] Number of asylum certificates delivered (166) added to the number of extended asylum certificates (644). Statistical data on the number of persons who have a valid MSID in Ukraine at a specific date is not available, hence it is not possbile to give a number of pending cases as of 31 December 2024.
[2] Breakdown: refugee status (5) + complementary protection (48) + total rejection (163). Moreover, not included in this total, there were decisions of loss (19) and withdrawal (3) of protection.
[3] Applications may involve several applicants, as minor children are included in the same application as their parents. Thus, 106 applicants were combined into 81 applications.
[4] 39 applicants, combined into 31 applications.
[5] 18 applicants, combined into 11 applications.