Chapter 5 Table 5 | Substantive decisions take | 2014-2018* 2014 States 2015 2016 2017 2018 941,800 1,086,400 1,408,500 1,395,000 1,064,100 UNHCR 99,600 91,600 83,400 87,400 67,500 Jointly** 4,400 6,400 6,000 4,300 2,600 Total 1,045,800 1,184,400 1,498,000 1,486,600 1,134,200 % UNHCR only 10 8 6 6 6 * Provisional figures. ** Refers to refugee status determination conducted jointly by UNHCR and governments. Turkey (30,000), Somalia (27,800), China (27,500) and Colombia (25,500). All figures in this section should be considered indicative, because the country of origin for some asylum-seekers is unknown, underestimated or undisclosed by some States. Data may include instances of double counting, as some people are likely to have applied for asylum in more than one country. Additionally, only partial data have been received from Belgium, Luxembourg and South Africa, and data from Turkey pertain only until 10 September 2018. Decisions Provisional figures indicate that States and UNHCR rendered 1,134,200 decisions on individual asylum applications – new, on appeal, or repeat – during 2018 [Table 5], a decrease from the high seen in 2016.76 These figures do not include cases closed for administrative reasons with no decision issued to applicants,77 of which 514,900 were reported in 2018. Of the total substantive decisions taken, UNHCR staff globally adjudicated 67,500 or 6 per cent, a decrease from the 87,400 reported in 2017 but with the proportion of all decisions remaining the same. The decrease is mainly linked to the handover of refugee status determination to national authorities, a decrease in refugee status determination for resettlement purposes and backlog clearance projects. Data relating to individual decisions are incomplete, however, as a few States have not yet released all of their official statistics. Thus, there are likely to be additional substantive decisions that have been taken by States in 2018, figures on which will be updated later. 46 Available data indicate that 500,100 asylum-seekers were granted protection in 2018, with 351,100 recognized as refugees and 149,000 granted a complementary form of protection. This was the lowest figure since 2013. About 634,100 claims were rejected on substantive grounds, a number that includes negative decisions at the first instance and on appeal. Asylum-seekers rejected at both first and appeal instances may be reported twice, depending on the methods used by governments for reporting decisions on individual asylum applications. At the global level (UNHCR and State asylum procedures combined), the Total Protection Rate (TPR) was 44 per cent – i.e. the percentage of substantive decisions that resulted in any form of international protection [Figure 19].78 This rate is lower than the previous year when it stood at 49 per cent and substantially lower than the 60 per cent reported in 2016 (although at this time global rates are indicative). Looking at the global figures for the countries of origin with over 10,000 substantive decisions, nationals of Burkina Faso had the highest TPR with 86 per cent, followed by nationals of DRC (83 per cent), Eritrea (81 per cent), Syria (81 per cent) and Somalia (73 per cent). Venezuelans received protection in under half of decisions (40 per cent) as did Iraqis (46 per cent), while Afghans received 76 Refers to decisions taken at all levels in the asylum procedure. 77 Also referred to as “non-substantive’ decisions”, which may result from the death of the applicant, no-show for interview, withdrawal of the application, abandonment of the claim or the determination that another country is responsible for the claim (“Dublin II” procedure), among other factors. 78 UNHCR uses two rates to compute the proportion of refugee claims accepted. The Refugee Recognition Rate is the proportion of asylum-seekers accorded refugee status out of the total number of substantive decisions (Convention status, complementary protection and rejected cases). The Total Protection Rate is the proportion of asylum-seekers accorded refugee status or a complementary form of protection by the total number of substantive decisions (formerly referred to as Total Recognition Rate or TRR). Non-substantive decisions are, to the extent possible, excluded from both calculations. For the purposes of global comparability, UNHCR uses only these two rates and does not report rates calculated by national authorities. unhcr > Global trends 2018