How many people apply for asylum in each country, per 1,000 residents, and how many are granted protection?
In 2025, first-time asylum applicants per 1,000 residents in the 32 countries reporting to Eurostat ranged from 0.01 in Hungary to 5.34 in Greece; UNHCR's figures for 128 countries of 1 million people or more with data for 2024 or 2025 range from 0 (under 0.005, in 25 countries) new applications per 1,000 residents to 5.74 in Costa Rica (2025); and in the 8 featured countries, 29.67% (Belgium) to 58.46% (Greece) of first-instance decisions in 2025 granted protection.
first-time asylum applicants per 1,000 residents
00.10.5126
Year varies by country (2011–2025) · grey: no figure
Latest figure for each country
Each colour is one figure per country: one year, not an average, for the year shown in the ranking and when you point at a country.With "How sure" on, hatching marks countries whose latest figure has a trust score below 60 (Low or Very low).
All countries
Each source's value links to its publisher; point at it for the source and year. A value in brackets is shown but doesn't count, and pointing at it says why. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
Positive first-instance asylum decisions as % of all first-instance decisions (Eurostat), 2025
Each line is the source that counts most for that group.
Spain
Italy
France
Germany
Greece
Belgium
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)
Switzerland
| Group | Figure | Year | Trust |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 51.07 | 2025 | 63 Moderate |
| Italy | 30 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
| France | 40.04 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
| Germany | 32.04 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
| Greece | 58.46 | 2025 | 63 Moderate |
| Belgium | 29.67 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
| Netherlands (Kingdom of the) | 47.75 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
| Switzerland | 54.88 | 2025 | 71 Moderate |
Show every year as a table
| Year | Spain | Italy | France | Germany | Greece | Belgium | Netherlands (Kingdom of the) | Switzerland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 5.36 | 48.16 | 16.21 | 40.7 | 0.19 | 25.73 | 51.95 | 45.99 |
| 2009 | 7.8 | 39.39 | 14.31 | 36.36 | 1.15 | 19.01 | 46.94 | 45.67 |
| 2010 | 21.9 | 38.06 | 13.55 | 23.02 | 3.04 | 21.06 | 45.53 | 58.38 |
| 2011 | 29.12 | 29.67 | 10.93 | 23.97 | 2.08 | 25.34 | 43.26 | 56.37 |
| 2012 | 20.15 | 80.73 | 14.45 | 29.17 | 0.85 | 22.54 | 40.27 | 33.74 |
| 2013 | 22.48 | 61.07 | 17.35 | 26.36 | 3.82 | 29.2 | 48.87 | 46.17 |
| 2014 | 43.78 | 58.5 | 21.63 | 41.64 | 14.8 | 39.47 | 66.72 | 73.95 |
| 2015 | 31.43 | 41.51 | 26.48 | 56.51 | 41.8 | 53.84 | 80.38 | 78.02 |
| 2016 | 66.85 | 39.39 | 32.87 | 68.75 | 23.7 | 60.18 | 72.07 | 74.17 |
| 2017 | 33.91 | 40.64 | 29.35 | 49.9 | 42.65 | 52.3 | 48.98 | 76.26 |
| 2018 | 24.34 | 32.21 | 28.45 | 42.37 | 47.02 | 50.83 | 35.2 | 73.92 |
| 2019 | 66.2 | 19.65 | 24.71 | 45.59 | 53.05 | 37.98 | 37.34 | 70.96 |
| 2020 | 40.91 | 28.39 | 22.16 | 48.56 | 55.22 | 34.86 | 63.31 | 71.76 |
| 2021 | 28.74 | 50.07 | 24.72 | 45.09 | 44.55 | 43.55 | 72.99 | 75.09 |
| 2022 | 42.12 | 48.4 | 27.52 | 65.02 | 49.79 | 45.43 | 87.19 | 79.28 |
| 2023 | 58.54 | 47.51 | 31.41 | 62.2 | 61.97 | 44.65 | 80.81 | 76.72 |
| 2024 | 56.41 | 35.87 | 37.8 | 53.41 | 71.54 | 48.71 | 75.34 | 66.16 |
| 2025 | 51.07 | 30 | 40.04 | 32.04 | 58.46 | 29.67 | 47.75 | 54.88 |
About this data
Every source on this page (4)
Who is behind the sources
- 100% International body
Each publisher, its funding and its own description
- UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) · International bodyFunding: Almost entirely voluntary contributions from governments and the EU, plus private donors; a small share comes from the UN regular budget. sourceIn its own words: “UNHCR is the world’s leading organization protecting people forced to flee, operating in 122 countries.” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- Eurostat · International bodyFunding: EU budget; Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The gender-based violence survey was run with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), also EU-funded. sourceIn its own words: “Our mission is to provide high-quality statistics and data on Europe.” source, retrieved 2026-10-27
- UNHCR Refugee Data Finder, asylum applications (population API)Used for 184 countries; counts toward 151. Years 2011 to 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Not counted where: it republishes Eurostat.Open the publisher's pageData: one of 184 files (API; each row's sources list its own)
- Eurostat, first-time asylum applicants (migr_asyappctza)Used for 33 countries; counts toward 33. Years 2019 to 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
- Eurostat, first-instance asylum decisions (migr_asydcfsta)Used for 8 countries; counts toward 8. Years 2025. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Open the publisher's page
- Eurostat, asylum applicants until 2007 (migr_asyctz)Used for 30 countries; counts toward 0 (shown only). Years 2006 to 2007. Retrieved 2026-10-27.Not counted where: this collection ended in 2007 and counts all applicants rather than first-time applicants, so it is shown as its own series and not compared with the later figures.Open the publisher's page
Why the numbers differ (7)
- First-time, new or all: Eurostat counts people applying in a country for the first time and leaves out repeat applicants; UNHCR counts applications of type "new" as each government reports them, which some countries define differently; the pre-2008 Eurostat series counts all applicants.
- Where people are counted: applications are counted in the country where they are lodged, in the year they are lodged. People may later move on, be transferred to another country under the Dublin rules, or apply in more than one country, so a country's figure is not the number of applicants living there.
- Population base: Eurostat lines divide by the population on 1 January of the same year (Eurostat); UNHCR lines divide by the UN World Population Prospects 2024 population on 1 July, which is a projection for the latest years.
- Rounding: Eurostat rounds asylum counts to the nearest 5; UNHCR rounded small values for 2019-2022 (values between 0 and 5 to multiples of 5, and asylum figures between 5 and 10 as well), so rates for small countries move in steps. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Recognition rates depend on who applies: the share of positive decisions differs widely by the applicants' nationality, and each country decides a different mix of nationalities, so a higher or lower rate in one country can reflect its applicants rather than its procedure. Humanitarian status is granted under national law and exists only in some countries.
- Copies: for every country Eurostat covers, UNHCR's figures come from the same national asylum records that are reported to Eurostat, so its line is shown but not counted again, even where its latest year is later than Eurostat's.
- Years that do not fit: UNHCR years given as cases, as combined application types or for part of a year are left out of its series; each line lists the years left out and why.
Common mistakes (4)
- Counting people who fled Ukraine as asylum applicants: since March 2022 most have received temporary protection under the EU decision of 4 March 2022, which Eurostat counts in separate temporary protection statistics, not in asylum applications. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Adding countries together to count people: the same person can apply in more than one country, and Eurostat says EU totals can be overestimated for that reason. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Comparing first-time applicants with all applicants: the all-applicants count includes people applying again in the same country, and the two are different numbers. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Reading the recognition rate as the share of applicants who stay: it covers first-instance decisions only; appeals can overturn them, and decisions in a year can concern applications from earlier years. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
Context (7)
- EU-27 first-time asylum applicants (Eurostat): 530,970 in 2014, 1,217,185 in 2015, 1,167,075 in 2016, 536,270 in 2021, 874,035 in 2022 and 672,350 in 2025. Eurostat notes the EU total can count the same person more than once if they apply in several countries. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Eurostat notes that asylum applications by Ukrainians rose in March 2022 in several countries where temporary protection was not yet in place; afterwards temporary protection under Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 applied. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 introducing temporary protection for people displaced from Ukraine. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection, the legal basis for Eurostat's asylum statistics since 2008. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Eurostat metadata on asylum applications: definitions, coverage by country and year, and accuracy notes. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- Eurostat metadata on decisions on asylum applications: what counts as a positive decision. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
- UNHCR population API documentation: fields for procedure, application type, decision level and persons or cases. Retrieved 2026-10-27.
Sources considered and not used (6)
- UNHCR Refugee Data Finder website: The website refuses scripted downloads; the same data were taken from UNHCR's population API, which needs no key.
- Eurostat temporary protection statistics (migr_asytpfm): Temporary protection for people displaced from Ukraine is a separate status, not an asylum application, so it is outside this page's question. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Eurostat EU-27 total: Not a country, and Eurostat warns it can count the same person more than once; it is quoted only in the context section. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
- Applicants by citizenship: Both Eurostat and UNHCR publish applicants by country of origin; this page shows totals per destination country only.
- National asylum agencies' own releases: Eurostat and UNHCR compile these agencies' figures under common definitions; the national releases were not collected separately for this page.
- UNHCR figures with no year matching the definition: For these places UNHCR gives only combined application types, cases or part-year figures, never new applications counted as persons for a full year: Timor-Leste, Uzbekistan. (source, retrieved 2026-10-27)
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