Reader’s guide
Legal basis
The EUAA Asylum Report: Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union is produced in accordance with the EUAA Regulation, Articles 69, 16(4), 20(7), 35(6), 50(5b) and 51(10).
Its objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of the situation of asylum in EU Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland (EU+ countries), describing and analysing flows of applications for international protection, major developments in legislation, jurisprudence and policies at the European and national levels, and the practical functioning of CEAS.
The production process follows the methodology and basic principles agreed by the Agency’s Management Board in 2013. Drafts are disseminated to the Management Board for their comments prior to its formal adoption and public launch.
Qualitative information
Primary factual information presented in the report was collected by the EUAA throughout the year in the framework of its the information management activities organised around the EUAA Information and Documentation System (IDS). This involves desk research on developments related to each step of the asylum procedure and the validation of the information by representatives of national authorities. Bilateral calls were organised with IDS focal points, who are nominated representatives of national authorities, to confirm, amend and add new information to ensure an accurate and comprehensive picture of developments in 2023.
The European Commission was consulted during the drafting process, in accordance with its role under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 35, which is reflected in EU Treaties and the asylum acquis instruments. UNHCR was also consulted during the drafting process, and public information produced by its experts were included in the report.
The report provides an analysis based on a wide range of duly-referenced sources of information to reflect ongoing debates at the European level. It also identifies areas where improvement is most needed (and thus where the EUAA and other key stakeholders should focus their efforts), in line with its declared purpose of improving the quality, consistency and effectiveness of CEAS. To that end, the EUAA takes due account of information already available from other relevant sources, as stipulated in the EUAA Regulation, including from EU+ countries, EU institutions and agencies (such as Frontex and FRA), civil society organisations, international organisations and academia.
An open call for contributions was launched to members of the Agency’s Consultative Forum and other civil society stakeholders to share relevant publications and information on their work which is relevant to the functioning of CEAS.
Jurisprudence was collected throughout the year and added to the EUAA Case Law Database, a public platform which serves as a point of reference for European and national case law related to CEAS. In addition, members of the EUAA Network of Courts and Tribunal members contributed to the report by providing relevant examples of national case law. Links to cases in the report redirect to the English summary in the EUAA Case Law Database.
The Asylum Report 2024 covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2023 but also refers to relevant developments in the year of writing. Whenever possible, information referring to 2023 was based on the most up-to-date sources available at the time of adoption of the report by the EUAA Management Board.
The report is not exhaustive and country examples presented in the report serve only as illustrations of relevant aspects of CEAS.
Quantitative information
Quantitative information was obtained from the EUAA’s Early Warning and Preparedness System (EPS) data exchange, which comprises data collected from EU+ countries on a monthly basis (Iceland and Liechtenstein do not presently take part in the EPS data exchange). The data are submitted by ministries and national administrations, in the framework of the EUAA Regulation, Articles 5 and 6.
The data shared with the EUAA by EU+ countries are provisional and unvalidated, and therefore may differ from validated data submitted at a later date to Eurostat, according to Regulation (EU) 2020/851 amending Regulation (EC) 862/2007.
The EPS data published in this report were extracted on 1 February 2024. The EUAA EPS data cover the first instance determination process and repeated applications, only for EU-regulated international protection status.
The annual data presented in the annexes are computed as the aggregation of data submitted to the EUAA throughout the year on a monthly basis.
The following indicators are presented in this report:
- Applicants for international protection
- Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors
- Asylum decisions at first instance
- Pending cases at first instance
- Withdrawn asylum applications
- Otherwise-closed applications
- Decisions received on outgoing Dublin requests
- Implementation of accepted outgoing Dublin requests
- Use of the discretionary clause (Article 17(1) of the Dublin III Regulation).
Data of a magnitude of 5 or lower are rounded to nearest five multiple. Thus, a ‘0’ may not necessarily indicate a real zero value but could also represent a value of ‘1’ or ‘2’.
All data reported to the EUAA refer to the individual person covered by an administrative event (e.g. asylum application, Dublin request, decision, etc.). All accompanying family members are thus reported individually, irrespective of the national legal requirements or administrative procedures.
Previous editions of this report were primarily based on data collected by Eurostat in the context of Regulation (EU) 2020/851 amending Regulation (EC) 862/2007. As such, figures presented in this report and last year’s edition are not fully comparable.
Accompanying products to the Asylum Report 2024
The Asylum Report is accompanied by various, user-friendly tools which can be used to filter information which is presented in the report.
The Executive Summary of the report is translated into all EU+ languages, in addition to Arabic, Turkish and Western Balkan languages.
A storytelling feature on the EUAA website presents a short summary of the key topics addressed in the main report.
The National Asylum Developments Database presents the legislative, institutional and policy developments which are described in the report. Updates can be searched by country, topic, year and type of development. The information is also summarised and presented in a table by country and by thematic area in a PDF document.
The report presents a selection of jurisprudential developments based on the EUAA Case Law Database. The hyperlinks within the text will bring readers to the specific case in the database.
The sources used for the production of the Asylum Report are presented in the list of references at the end of the report. They are also available in a separate, detailed Sources on Asylum 2024, grouped by type of source. Readers can easily identify whether sources are from European institutions and agencies, international organisations, national authorities, civil society organisations or think tanks and academia. A list of legislation and case law referenced in the report is also provided.