Overview of statistical practice
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) publishes monthly statistical reports (Aktuelle Zahlen zu Asyl) with information on applications and first instance decisions for main nationalities. More detailed information is provided in the monthly Asylgeschäftsstatistik and in other BAMF publications (Bundesamt in Zahlen).[1] Furthermore, detailed statistics can be found in responses to information requests which are regularly submitted by German members of parliament.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2022
Applicants in 2022 | Pending at end of 2022 | Refugee status[2] | Subsidiary protection | Rejection[3] | Humanitarian protection (Removal ban) | Refugee rate | Subs. Prot. rate | Hum. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | ||
Total | 244,132 | 136,448 | 40,911 | 57,532 | 49,330 | 30,020 | 23.0% | 32.4% | 16.9% | 27.7% | |
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers | |||||||||||
Syria | 72,646 | 36,036 | 15,327 | 52,151 | 41 | 243 | 22.6% | 77.0% | 0.4% | 0.1% | |
Afghanistan | 41,471 | 27,594 | 8,539 | 1,903 | 260 | 26,499 | 23.0% | 5.1% | 71.2% | 0.7% | |
Türkiye | 25,054 | 19,286 | 2,966 | 84 | 5,671 | 28 | 33.9% | 1.0% | 0.3% | 64.8% | |
Iraq | 16,328 | 8,525 | 2,916 | 797 | 11,949 | 1,273 | 17.2% | 4.7% | 7.5% | 70.6% | |
Georgia | 8,865 | 3,523 | 7 | 2 | 5,301 | 16 | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 99.5% | |
Iran | 7,350 | 5,274 | 1,252 | 133 | 1,768 | 53 | 39.1% | 4.1% | 1.7% | 55.1% | |
North Macedonia | 5,602 | 2,179 | 2 | 1 | 2,287 | 12 | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.5% | 99.3% | |
Moldova | 5,218 | 661 | 2 | 1 | 2,119 | 5 | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 99.6% | |
undetermined[4] | 4,973 | 3,075 | 2,420 | 563 | 804 | 79 | 62.6% | 14.6% | 0.2% | 20.8% | |
Somalia | 4,360 | 2,817 | 2,188 | 389 | 732 | 513 | 57.2% | 10.2% | 13.4% | 19.2% |
Source: Asylgeschäftsstatistik (01-12/22), available in German at: https://bit.ly/3Z7UIUM. Inadmissibility decisions and ‘formal decisions’ are excluded from the statistics above. Protection and rejection rates are calculated by the authors based on the total number of decisions without formal/inadmissibility decisions and without decisions where the country of origin is unknown.
* Statistics on decisions cover the decisions taken throughout the year, regardless of whether they concern applications lodged that year or in previous years.
* ‘Applicants in year’ refers to the total number of applicants, and not only to first-time applicants.
In addition to refugee status and subsidiary protection, applicants can be issued two types of national protection statuses: on the one hand, constitutional asylum, which gives rise to the same rights as the recognition of refugee status (the figures on refugee status thus include constitutional asylum),[5], and on the other hand, a ‘removal ban’ for compelling humanitarian reasons. Note that this includes only removal bans issued by the BAMF, and not by immigration authorities. The BAMF only examines removal bans due to the situation in the country of origin, whereas immigration authorities can issue removal bans based on the situation of the applicant in Germany (e. g. medical reasons, family unity etc).
The figures presented in the table above represent the “adjusted protection rates” (bereinigte Schutzquoten). This means that ‘formal decisions’ are not considered. There were 50,880 ‘formal decisions’ in 2022, in which the applications were rejected as inadmissible or in which the asylum procedure was terminated for other reasons. In all these cases, the substance of the case was not examined by the asylum authorities. In contrast, official statistics usually represent the ‘overall protection rate’ (Gesamtschutzquoten), which is determined by including the formal decisions. The overall protection rates for 2022 are:
- Refugee rate (incl. constitutional asylum): 17.9%,
- Subsidiary protection rate: 25.2%,
- ‘Removal ban’: 13.1%,
- Rejection: 21.6%,
- Formal decisions: 22.3%.[6]
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2022 (first applications only)
Number | Percentage | |
Total number of applicants | 217,774 | 100% |
Adult Men | 102,210 | 46.9% |
Adult Women | 34,332 | 15.8% |
Children | 81,232 | 37.3% |
Among which unaccompanied children | 4,965 | 2.3% |
Source: BAMF, Aktuelle Zahlen, December 2022, available in German at https://bit.ly/3TDLUEZ, 11. Statistics on unaccompanied minors provided by the BAMF, 9 March 2023.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates, 1 January – 30 November 2022 (‘adjusted decision rates’, excluding formal decisions):
First instance | Appeal | |||
Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
Total number of decisions | 162,464 | 42,571 | ||
Positive decisions (excluding formal decisions) | 117,061 | 72.1% | 15,745 | 37.0% |
|
37,408 | 23.0% | 5,454 | 12.8% |
|
52,192 | 32.1% | 1,358 | 3.2% |
|
27,461 | 16.9% | 8,933 | 21.0% |
Negative decisions | 45,403 | 27.9% | 26,826 | 63.0% |
Source: BAMF, Asylgeschäftsstatistik (11-12/22), available at https://bit.ly/3TGcqO7, and Federal Government, Response to parliamentary question by The Left, 20/5709, 17 February 2023, available in German at: https://bit.ly/3K3w3MX, 35. All figures refer to decisions made between 1 January and 30 November 2022, as full-year figures for appeal decisions were not available at the time of writing of this report.
[1] BAMF, Asylzahlen, available in German at: http://bit.ly/2mb014E.
[2] These include decisions on constitutional asylum.
[3] Inadmissibility decisions and ‘formal decisions’ are excluded from the statistics above.
[4] The category ‘undetermined’ (ungeklärt) applies in most cases to persons who have lived in a country for a long time without having the nationality of this country, such as Palestinian refugees having lived in Syria before arriving in Germany. According to the BAMF, their asylum applications are treated with regard to the situation in the country of residence. The category further applies in cases where the information on the country of origin indicated by the applicant is disproven or deemed not credible by the BAMF, and where no other country of origin can be established. See Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Knapp 500 Asylbewerber mit unbekannter Herkunft, 23 May 2021, available in German at http://bit.ly/40ARLNz.
[5] Constitutional asylum was granted in 1,937 cases in 2022.
[6] BAMF, Aktuelle Zahlen, December 2022, available in German at https://bit.ly/3TDLUEZ, 11.