Chapter 4
+ EXPLORE
THE DATA
+ Asylum
applications
+ Asylum decisions
+ Pending asylum
applications at
end-2024
CHAPTER 4
Asylum trends
4.8
MILLION
people sought international protection in
2024 (–13 per cent).
• 3.1 million new individual asylum
applications were reported as registered.
• 835,600 people were recognized as
refugees on a group basis (–6 per cent).
• 954,600 people received temporary
protection (–13 per cent).
775,900
55%
people were granted refugee status
through individual status determination
procedures (–6 per cent).
was the total
protection rate
in individual
procedures in
2024.166
8.4
MILLION
asylum-seekers were pending a
decision on their claims at end-2024.
HOW IS REFUGEE STATUS GRANTED?
Overview
In 2024, 4.8 million people were reported to have
applied for asylum on an individual basis, were
recognized through group procedures or were
granted temporary protection, 13 per cent fewer
than in the previous year. The number of individual
asylum applications (3.1 million), recognitions from
group procedures (835,600) and people receiving
temporary protection (954,600) all decreased in 2024
compared with the previous year. This was mainly
due to fewer people fleeing Ukraine and that only
individual asylum applications lodged in the first six
months of 2024 were reported by the United States
of America.167 During the year, as shown in figure
18, over one-third of the 4.8 million people seeking
international protection came from just two countries:
Ukraine (879,100)168 and Sudan (872,400).
In addition to the reported 3.1 million new individual
asylum applications, 372,200 repeat or appeal
applications were made for review by courts or
other appellate bodies. Therefore, in total, 3.4 million
individual asylum applications were registered in 163
countries by States or UNHCR worldwide.169
Over half of all new individual asylum applications
globally were known to have been received in just
four countries: the United States of America (729,100),
166 See How are asylum indicators calculated?, UNHCR.
167 See footnote 9.
168 See footnote 19.
169 In Bulgaria, Japan, Slovakia, South Africa and Yemen, the data on asylum applications is provided together without distinction between new,
repeat and appeal applications.
UNHCR > GLOBAL TRENDS 2024
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