Data on the Common European Asylum Systems

• Pages: 57-85

Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union

57

Section 4. Data on the Common European Asylum

System

EASO uses both data published by Eurostat and through the EASO Early Warning and

Preparedness System (EPS) data exchange to produce both public and restricted analyses of

asylum trends. Key indicators to identify and monitor trends in countries receiving asylum

applicants and countries of origin are presented in this section. Data related specifically to Dublin

requests and unaccompanied minors are featured in Section 5 and Section 6, respectively.

EASO manages extensive information exchanges with Member States, the European Commission,

other JHA agencies and partner organisations. In addition, EASO cites official Eurostat statistics and

uses machine learning to analyse big data on conflict and disruptive events in countries of origin and

transit in order to clarify the root causes of individual displacement events. This information is used

by EASO to deliver strategic analysis and design effective operational support. It is shared with core

stakeholders on a regular basis so that the EU can understand and predict arrivals of third country

nationals that might exert particular pressure on national asylum and reception authorities.

EASO works actively to improve the quality of information. Nonetheless, some discrepancies have

been found which affect the interpretation of data on asylum, namely:

In 2020, d ata integration has become the most pressing issue in the area of analysis and

research. In other words, the utility of data is now measured by the extent to which it can be

          F  data on Schengen visa

applications and the number of asylum applications are available, but these data originate from

different sources and are not linked. As a result, it cannot be deduced how many people first

applied for a visa and then applied for asylum. The more data become linked with the necessary

level of precision, the more the EU can design a future-proof and efficient asylum system based

on a detailed understanding of the underlying trends.

Administrative data t end to count administrative procedures rather than individuals, so

information exists on how many applications were lodged but it is not clear how many people

were involved in these procedures. This can have considerable consequences on the

interpretation of the data and how they are used to support decision-making. For example,

counting applications may produce over-estimations at th e EU+ level when some individuals

submit multiple applications at different times or in different countries. At t he same time,

applications might under-estimate the actual pressure on national asylum authorities because

their number is dependent on administrative capacity to register applications.

4.1 Data on applications for international protection

At the EU level

In 2019, almost 740 000 applications for international protection were lodged in EU+ countries, an

increase of 11 % compared to 2018. This was the first time since the migration crisis of 2015 that the

number of applicants started to climb, in part due to a sharp rise in applications from Venezuelan and

other L atin American nationals. In fact, top receiving countries, such as France, Greece and Spain,

received more applicants in 2019 than during the migration crisis.

Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union

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Broadly speaking, asylum applications already started to increase back in 2018, but this increase

continued and even accelerated throughout 2019. Correspondingly, more applications were

registered at the end of 2019 than at the beginning of the year (see Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1 Number of applications by top receiving countries in Europe, 2018-2019

Source: Eurostat.

Following the usual trend, there were five times as many applications for international protection than

detections of illegal border crossings at the external border in 2019, approximately 740 000 compared

to 140 000, respectively.166 Nonetheless, border countries such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and some

Western Balkans countries detected an increase in illegal border crossings compared to 2018.167

With regard to the characteristics of applicants, the number of female applicants increased in 2019 by

14 %, but still nearly two-thirds of all applications were lodged by males. The proportion of male

applicants, however, far exceeded that of females in countries such as Slovenia (95 % of applications

were lodged by males), Malta and Bulgaria (86 % each). The opposite trend occurred in Hungary,

Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, where the share of female applicants was the highest

across EU+ countries, ranging between 41 % and 45 %.

The age of applicants can also be important, for example to plan adequate health care. Most

applicants were young adults, aged between 18 and 34 years, accounting for nearly one -half of all

applicants for international protection. For older cohorts, over one-fifth of applicants fell into the 35-

to 64-year-old age group and just 1 % were older than 64 years.

From 2015 t o 2019, there have been more minors younger than 14 years old who have lodged

applications than applicants aged 35 to 64 years. These minors accounted for almost one-quarter of

all applicants in 2019, although the gap with the older cohort is narrowing. The number of

unaccompanied minors applying for international protec tion declined in 2019. This group accounted

for just 2 % of applications in 2019, a share which has declined since 2016.

At the country level

Applications continued to be concentrated in a small number of Member States. For instance, in 2019

France, Germany and Spain received more than one-half of all applications in EU+ countries, followed

at a distance by Greece (see Figure 4.1). For the sixth consecutive year, Germany continued to receive

the highest number of applications (about 166 000), albeit a smaller proportion of the total caseload

(22 % of all applications in 2019, down from 28 % in 2018).

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