REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection
Date: 2021-08-24
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: Community migration, EU statistics, asylum seeker, data collection, emigration, foreign national, immigration, migration statistics, migratory movement, residence permit, return migration

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.8.2021 COM(2021) 489 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection       
 
 
INTRODUCTION 

1. 
Regulation  (EC)  No  862/20071  (‘the  Regulation’)  establishes  common  rules  for  producing 
European statistics on migration and international protection in the European Union (EU). These 
statistics  cover  international  migration  flows  to,  from  and  inside  the  EU,  migrant  population 
stocks in the EU as well as acquisition and loss of citizenship of an EU Member State. They also 
cover asylum and managed migration statistics that concern: 

  asylum  applications,  including  those  by  unaccompanied  minors,  first  instance 
decisions and appeal decisions granting or withdrawing various forms of international 
protection status, and persons resettled to the EU; 

  statistics on Member States’ applying the Dublin III Regulation2; 

  non-EU  (third-country)  nationals  refused  entry  to  the  Member  State  at  the  external 

border or found to be illegally present under national immigration legislation; 

 

 

residence  permits  issued  to  third-country  nationals,  length  of  permit  validity  and 
reason (immigration category) for the permit being issued; and 

third-country  nationals  ordered  to  leave  the  territory  of  a  Member  State  under 
immigration  legislation  or  recorded  as  departing  after  the  issue  of  such  an  order, 
disaggregated by citizenship. 

Article 12 of the Regulation requires that ‘By 20 August 2012 and every three  years thereafter, 
the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the statistics 
compiled pursuant to this Regulation and on their quality.’ 

This  is  the Commission’s fourth  report on the implementation of the Regulation,  following the 
reports adopted in 20123, 20154, and 20185. It provides information on the progress that Member 
States,  together with  the Commission  (Eurostat), have made to  implement  the Regulation  since 
2018  and  presents  the  next  steps  to  further  improve  the  quality  of  these  statistics.  Section 2 
briefly  outlines  the  most  important  developments.  Section 3  addresses  general  progress  and 
quality  aspects  of  statistics  produced  for  reference  periods  between  2018  and  2020.  Section 4 
focuses on ongoing work to implement revised statistics requirements for reference periods from 
2021  onwards  and  new  initiatives  to  address  evolving  policy  needs  over  the  coming  years. 
Section 5 concludes the report and outlines next steps. 

1 Regulation  (EC)  No  862/2007  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  11  July  2007  on  Community 
statistics on  migration and international protection and repealing Council  Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the 
compilation of statistics on foreign workers (OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 23). 

2 Regulation  (EU)  No  604/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  26  June  2013  establishing  the 
criteria  and  mechanisms  for  determining  the  Member  State  responsible  for  examining  an  application  for 
international  protection  lodged  in  one  of  the  Member  States  by  a  third-country  national  or  a  stateless  person 
(OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 31). 

3 COM(2012) 528. 
4 COM(2015) 374. 
5 COM(2018) 594. 

2 

 
 
                                                 
2. 

MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 2018 

After  a period of continued improvements leading up to  the previous 2018 report,  general  data 
availability  and  quality  –  in  particular  completeness,  timeliness,  comparability  and  accuracy  – 
have stabilised at a high level across all data collections. However, due to the rapidly changing 
nature of migration, new needs have arisen in the EU for more timely and more detailed statistics 
on asylum, returns, resettlement and residence permits. 

In May 2018, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Regulation amending the Regulation6 to 
extend  the  data  requirements  on  asylum  and  managed  migration.  Regulation  (EU)  2020/8517 
substantially  updates  asylum  and  managed  migration  statistics  in  terms  of  new  variables,  more 
detailed  breakdowns  and  more  frequent  data  collections  for  reference  periods  from  2021 
onwards. The new requirements were to be gradually introduced from that Regulation’s date of 
entry  into  force  on  12  July  2020  through  to  1  July  2021.  In  line  with  Article 11a  of  the 
Regulation, the Commission granted temporary derogations8 to 16 Member States9 upon justified 
requests.  Eurostat  will  regularly  monitor  the  progress  on  necessary  adaptations  in  national 
production systems  in  affected Member States. Data availability has already improved with  the 
release of monthly (asylum applications) and quarterly (asylum first instance decisions, returns) 
data from March 2021 onwards. 

New  requirements  for  mandatory  data  collections  on  asylum  and  managed  migration  must  be 
implemented  for  all  applicable  reference  periods  from  January  2021  onwards.  To  ensure  a 
smooth  process,  Eurostat  worked  with  national  experts  during  2020  to  revise  the  relevant 
technical  guidelines for  data collections accordingly and, in  November 2020, the Expert Group 
endorsed  all  new  versions.  Moreover,  all  production  processes  are  being  updated  in  line  with 
respective  timelines  for  the  revised  monthly,  quarterly  and  annual  data  collections  –  including 
updated  methodologies,  reporting  templates,  data  transmission  procedures  and  formats,  and 
validation rules. 

As required by Article 9b of the Regulation, the Commission is providing financial contributions 
from  the  EU  budget  to  support  necessary  development  or  implementation  actions  in  Member 
States.  The  relevant  instruments  are  grants  provided  by  Eurostat  and  support  under  the  new 
Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund10. 

Furthermore,  Eurostat  and  Member  States  have  continued  to  invest  in  data  quality  and 
methodological  improvements.  Firstly,  work  has  progressed  on  the  misclassification  of 
demographic  events;  the  inclusion/exclusion  of  asylum  seekers  and  refugees;  cross-domain 

6 COM(2018) 307. 
7 Regulation (EU) 2020/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 amending Regulation 
(EC)  No  862/2007  on  Community  statistics  on  migration  and  international  protection  (OJ  L  198,  22.6.2020, 
p. 1). 

8 Commission  Implementing  Decision  (EU)  2021/431  of  10  March  2021  granting  derogations  to  certain  Member 
States  from  Regulation  (EC)  No  862/2007  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  Community 
statistics on migration and international protection (OJ L 86, 12.3.2021, p. 5). 

9  Belgium,  Czechia,  Germany,  Spain,  France,  Croatia,  Italy,  Cyprus,  Lithuania,  Malta,  the  Netherlands,  Poland, 

Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden. 

10 Regulation  (EU)  2021/1147  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  7 July  2021  establishing  the 

Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (OJ L 251, 15.7.2021, p. 1). 

3 

 
 
                                                 
 
coherence  between  migration,  asylum  and  residence  permits  data;  and  ensuring  a  consistent 
demographic  balance.  Secondly,  voluntary  data  collections  were  set  up  to  address  quickly 
evolving  policy  needs  and  thus  maintain  high  relevance  in  the  short  term,  including  data  on 
unaccompanied minors applying for asylum, on returns by quarter, and on migration from/to the 
new composition of the EU following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal. Most recently, with the 
COVID-19  pandemic,  Member  States  and  Eurostat  have  ensured  that  data  transmissions  and 
publications respect their release calendar. 

The technical improvements have helped to maintain the high relevance of statistical outputs but 
also  to  make  data  validation  and  processing  more  efficient.  Alongside  this,  with  the  continued 
regular collection of extensive quality metadata it is possible to assess and monitor the quality of 
incoming  data.  When  necessary,  administrative  letters  were  sent  to  ensure  compliance  with  the 
legal obligations. 

3. 

QUALITY OF THE STATISTICS PRODUCED  

To  disseminate  these  European  statistics,  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  has  continued  to  work 
closely with all relevant national authorities. National statistical institutes are the main suppliers 
of  statistics  on  migration  flows,  acquisitions  of  citizenship  and  population  stocks.  Statistics  on 
residence  permits  and  asylum  usually  come  directly  from  interior  ministries  or  immigration 
services. Statistics on border controls and the removal of unauthorised migrants are also provided 
by interior ministries or immigration services, or else by police authorities. 

To  evaluate  the  quality  of  the  incoming  data,  Eurostat  collects  extensive  metadata  and  quality 
information from Member States. The resulting national metadata reports, which are public, serve 
as an aid for quality checks, evaluation and further improvements11. They help users to interpret 
and  use  the  statistics  correctly.  In  the  following  sections,  various  quality  dimensions  are 
addressed separately. 

3.1. 

Relevance 

Since  the  2018  report,  the  data  transmissions  have  generally  remained  at  a  very  high  level  of 
completeness. Some issues nevertheless remain, mostly for statistics on Dublin procedures. 

Statistics on migration and international protection are used for EU policies on migration, home 
affairs, employment, social affairs, justice, external relations, and human rights. The Commission 
relies on the data to prepare regular reports, policy proposals and implementation reports required 
under EU legislation and to carry out policy analysis. 

For  the  period  2014-2020,  statistics  under  the  Regulation  were  used  to  determine  budgetary 
allocations to Member States under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (applicants for 
international protection, grants of protection status, issuance of authorisations to stay for specific 
reasons, returns) and the Internal Security Fund – Borders and Visa (number of persons crossing 
external  borders,  third-country  nationals  refused  entry  at  external  borders).  Similar  allocation 

11 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/EN/migr_eil_esqrs.htm (English only); 

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/migr_res_esms.htm (English only); 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/demo_pop_esms.htm (English only); 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/migr_immi_esms.htm (English only); 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/migr_acqn_esms.htm (English only). 

4 

 
 
                                                 
rules are envisaged again for some new EU funds during 2021-2027. National funding allocations 
under the new Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (see footnote 10) rely on Eurostat’s latest 
annual  statistics  (covering  the  preceding  3  calendar  years)  on  persons  who  applied  for  or  were 
granted  international  protection,  persons  resettled,  number  of  legally  residing  third-country 
nationals, first residence permits, persons obliged to leave, and persons returned. The new Border 
Management and Visa Policy Instrument12 (as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund) 
relies on the latest European statistics on third-country nationals refused entry at external land or 
sea borders or at airports. 

Migration-related EU  agencies such as  Frontex and the European Asylum  Support  Office, with 
whom  Eurostat  works  closely  on  data  collection  and  statistical  methodology,  also  use  these 
statistics.  Further  examples  are  the  publications  of  the  Knowledge  Centre  on  Migration  and 
Demography13,  which  operates  under  the  Commission’s  Joint  Research  Centre,  and  of  the 
European  Migration  Network14.  Eurostat  is  a  leading  contributor  with  statistics  to  such 
publications. 

Finally, regular users of the statistics include national administrations, international organisations, 
academic researchers and civil society groups working on a wide range of topics, including the 
integration of immigrants, the development and monitoring of national asylum and immigration 
procedures, and population and labour force projections. 

3.2. 

Accuracy 

In general, Member States are constantly maintaining or even improving statistical accuracy at a 
high  level.  Specific  accuracy  issues  remain,  however,  for  international  migration  data.  These 
relate  both  to  under-coverage  (i.e.  persons  who  do  not  register  in  their  place  of  residence)  and 
over-coverage (i.e. persons who do not deregister, as there is often no obligation or incentive to 
do  so).  To  further  improve  accuracy  in  this  domain,  Member  States  exchange  data  with  other 
Member  States,  and  use  estimation  techniques  and  additional  administrative  data  sources. 
Freedom  of  movement  within  the  EU  and  issues  related  to  personal  data  protection  constrain 
further improvements  in  the quality of migration statistics, especially in  relation  to  EU citizens 
who move and reside in another Member State. 

3.3. 

Timeliness and punctuality 

Depending on the type of data concerned, the deadline to supply data is between 2 and 12 months 
after  the  reference  date  or  the  end  of  the  reference  period.  Automated  extraction  procedures  at 
national level and regular monitoring by Eurostat generally ensure the punctual provision of data. 
In particular, data transmission deadlines are generally observed, with mostly constant or slightly 
improving  trends  since  2018,  with  some  issues  remaining  only  for  statistics  on  Dublin 
procedures. Other non-recurring issues remain rare, for instance isolated disruptions due to staff 
unavailability  or  computing  system  failures.  The  COVID-19  pandemic  did  not  affect  the 
implementation of the release calendar. 

12 Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2021 establishing, as part of 
the Integrated Border Management Fund, the Instrument for Financial Support for Border Management and Visa 
Policy (OJ L 251, 15.7.2021, p. 48). 

13 https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/organisation/kcmd-knowledge-centre-migration-demography_en. 
14 European Migration Network (EMN), e.g. https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/content/emn-annual-report-migration-

and-asylum-2019_en (English only). 

5 

 
 
                                                 
3.4. 

Accessibility 

The  statistical  data  and  metadata  are  freely  available  on  Eurostat’s  website  under  the  theme 
Population15. Moreover, these statistics feature in regularly updated Statistics Explained articles16 
and in compendium publications like Key figures on Europe (2020 edition)17 or the 2020 Report 
on the impact of demographic change18 (presenting data on migration flows and population stock 
by citizenship). 

Statistics  produced  under  the  Regulation  remain  among  the  most  widely  consulted  European 
statistics.  Since  2016,  ‘international  migration  statistics’  has  ranked  first  among  the  thematic 
sections on the website, with a constantly high user interest to this day. Similarly, on the Statistics 
Explained  website,  the  rolling  article  on  migration  and  migrant  population  statistics19  has 
established itself since 2016 as one of the most visited pages. Since 2018, Eurostat has produced 
42  publications  on  asylum  and  managed  migration.  The  Statistics  Explained  rolling  article  on 
annual  asylum  statistics20  has  been  highly  popular  with  around  200 000  views  per  year  since 
2018. These statistics are also very visible in Eurostat’s social media channels. 

3.5. 

Comparability 

Methodological  and  compilation  guidelines  have  long  been  in  place  and  have  been  regularly 
improved  for  statistics  on  international  migration,  the  acquisition  of  citizenship,  asylum,  the 
enforcement  of  immigration  legislation,  and  residence  permits.  They  help  Member  States  to 
ensure  comparability  that  is  generally  in  accordance  with  EU  legislation  and  international 
recommendations. 

International  migration  statistics  continue  to  be  highly  consistent  with  the  demographic  data 
collections  covered  by  Regulation  (EU)  No 1260/201321,  following  an  agreement  reached  with 
Member States to  apply  the same age definitions and breakdowns,  and on the definition of EU 
aggregates.  To  ensure  comparability,  Eurostat  verifies  whether  the  received  data  are  consistent 
internally  and  over  time,  and  whether  they  are  comparable  between  regions  and  countries. 
Regarding  comparability  between  countries,  the  Regulation  establishes  harmonised  definitions 
for  migration  flow  data.  Problems  applying  specific  definitions  for  the  statistics  on  migration 
flows  and  acquisition  of  citizenship  have  been  among  the  hardest  to  address.  Since  the  2018 
report,  the  data  sent  have  generally  remained  highly  compliant  for  statistics  on  migration  and 
acquisition of citizenship. Nevertheless, the migrant population data under the Regulation can be 
based on definitions of either usual residence or legal or registered residence. This flexibility is 
used to obtain a fully consistent set of population data at national level at the expense of reduced 
comparability  between  countries  (see Section 3.6).  This  is  one  of  the  starting  points  for  wider 
definitional  and  conceptual  harmonisation  in  statistics  for  demography  and  international 
migration (see Section 4.2). 

15 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/population-demography/overview (English, French and German).  
16 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Population  and  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-

explained/index.php?title=Asylum_and_migration (English only). 

17 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-statistical-books/-/KS-EI-20-001 (English, French and German).  
18 COM(2020) 241 and accompanying SWD(2021) 46 (English only). 
19 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics. 
20 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Asylum_statistics. 
21 Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 November 2013 on European 

demographic statistics (OJ L 330, 10.12.2013, p. 39). 

6 

 
 
                                                 
Regarding asylum and managed migration statistics, Member States generally have a good level 
of compliance with definitions. Some specific issues persist in a few Member States, but mostly 
at  the  level  of  breakdown  sub-categories.  Eurostat,  in  cooperation  with  national  experts,  is 
preparing  a  dedicated  glossary  to  further  harmonise  these  domains.  This  work  is  already  very 
advanced, and the glossary is expected to be published in 2021. 

3.6. 

Coherence 

The  Regulation  leaves  Member  States  to  define  the  migrant  population  as  being  either  usually 
resident  or,  in  default,  legally  or  registered  resident.  Regulation  (EU)  No 1260/2013  requires 
Member  States  to  ensure  that  population  data  under  its  Article 3  are  consistent  with  migrant 
population  data  required  under  Article 3(1)(c)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  862/2007,  as  statisticians 
and  demographers  systematically  use  these  population  data  together.  However,  general  issues 
remain. For example, due to a current gap in harmonisation across legal bases, the definitions and 
applications of the population base between international migration flows and other demographic 
statistics  are  insufficiently  coherent.  This  will  be  a  crucial  point  when  wider  definitional  and 
conceptual harmonisation in population statistics as a whole – covering census, demography and 
international migration – is addressed more comprehensively at EU level (see Section 4.2). 

Since  2018,  Eurostat  has  also  made  efforts  to  assess  both  intra-domain  consistency  (e.g.  in 
asylum or  residence permits  domains) and cross-domain coherence (between  asylum, residence 
permits and international migration statistics). In this work, both synergies and differences were 
identified between statistics on first-time residence permits issued to third-country nationals and 
statistics on long-term international migration of third-country nationals. More detailed findings 
are  published  in  the  Eurostat  metadata22  and  were  presented  to  the  United  Nations  Economic 
Commission for Europe (UNECE) Work Session on Migration Statistics in 2018. 

Where  comparisons  are  possible,  a  high  degree  of  coherence  can  generally  be  seen  with  data 
collected  and  published  elsewhere  by  national  and  international  organisations.  Eurostat 
cooperates closely with the European Asylum Support Office and Frontex to ensure coherence of 
the  methodology  and  the  statistics  with  the  methodologies  applied  and  data  collected  by  these 
agencies. 

Eurostat  participates  in  the  United  Nations  Expert  Group  on  Refugee  and  Internally  Displaced 
Persons Statistics (EGRIS)23. Eurostat was one of the founders of this international expert group 
and remains a member of its Steering Committee. Eurostat is contributing to the group’s work not 
only  with  methodological  and  written  contributions  to  the  various  group  outputs  but  also 
administratively and financially. This group’s work led to the United Nations (UN) approving, in 
2018, the International Recommendations on Refugee Statistics24 and, in 2020, the International 
Recommendations  on  Internally  Displaced  Persons  Statistics25  accompanied  by  the  Compilers’ 
Manual  on Displacement  Statistics26. These recommendations have set  the global  standards for 
producing statistics on forced displacement. For instance, they call for closing gaps and ensuring 

22 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/migr_immi_esms.htm (English only). 
23 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/expert-group-on-refugee-statistics/home (English only). 
24 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/49th-session/documents/BG-Item3m-RefugeeStat-E.pdf (English only).  
25 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/51st-session/documents/BG-item-3n-international-recommendations-on-IDP-

statistics-E.pdf (English only). 

26 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/statcom/51st-session/documents/BG-item-3n-compilers-manual-E.pdf (English only).  

7 

 
 
                                                 
proper standards in statistics on forcibly displaced children, unaccompanied minors and persons 
with  disabilities.  During  2020,  EGRIS  also  continued  its  work  on  the  International 
Recommendations  on  Statelessness  Statistics,  scheduled  for  adoption  by  the  United  Nations 
Statistical Commission in 2022. 

Eurostat  is  member  of  the  UNECE  Steering  Group  on  Migration  Statistics27  and  regularly 
participates in  the UNECE Work Sessions on Migration Statistics.  In this  context,  Eurostat has 
presented  work  on  the  comparability  of  residence  permits  and  international  migration  statistics 
and on the production features of circular migration statistics. Eurostat has also contributed to the 
UNECE  Guidance on Data  Integration  for  Measuring Migration28 and  Guidance on the use  of 
longitudinal  data  for  migration  statistics29.  Finally,  Eurostat  participates  in  the  United  Nations 
Expert  Group  on  Migration  Statistics30,  which  is  working  on  a  revision  of  the  UN 
Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration. In particular, Eurostat has contributed 
to  discussions  in  the  United  Nations  Task  Force  on  Key  Concepts  and  Definitions  related  to 
International Migration, whose remit covers worldwide practices in national migration statistics 
and exploring alternative definitions of migration. 

4. 

ONGOING WORK TO ADDRESS CURRENT AND EVOLVING POLICY NEEDS 

4.1. 

Piloting new statistics on asylum and managed migration 

In the dynamic policy environment, for instance in the wake of the New Pact on Migration and 
Asylum  that  the  Commission  adopted  in  September  202031,  needs  for  new  statistics  keep 
evolving  quickly32.  The  Regulation,  as  amended  in  2020,  anticipated  this  to  some  extent  by 
introducing  in  Article 9a  a  mechanism  to  pilot  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  new  asylum 
and  managed  migration  statistics.  This  mechanism  includes  two  complementary  approaches, 
namely  at  EU  level  and  at  national  level.  In  line  with  Article 9a,  Eurostat  will,  by  July  2022, 
report publicly on the overall progress made. 

Article 9a(2) mandates Eurostat to assess whether the new statistics can be based on information 
available in relevant administrative sources at EU level. The Regulation acknowledges that such 
EU-level  production,  where  possible  and  feasible,  would  benefit  from  more  efficiency  and 
harmonisation  than  new  national  efforts.  The  relevant  potential  EU  sources  in  this  context  are 
developed and maintained by  eu-LISA33.  In particular, Eurostat should benefit from  the central 

27 https://unece.org/statistics/networks-of-experts/steering-group-migration-statistics  
28 https://unece.org/DAM/stats/publications/2018/ECECESSTAT20186.pdf  
29 https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/ECECESSTAT20206.pdf  
30 https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/migration-expert-group/ 
31 COM(2020) 609. 
32  Tentative  new  data  needs  include  new  characteristics  of  asylum  applications  (accelerated  or  border  procedure, 
identity documents presented, care and access to education of unaccompanied minors), more frequent (quarterly) 
statistics  on  resettled  persons,  Dublin  procedures  and  third-country  nationals  refused  entry  or  found  to  be 
illegally  present,  disaggregation  for  certain  indicators  (i.e.  refused  entry,  apprehensions  and  illegal  border 
crossings  disaggregated  by  unaccompanied  minors;  third-country  nationals  disembarked  following  search  and 
rescue  operations  disaggregated  by  nationality,  applicants  for  international  protection  and  unaccompanied 
minors), as well as new characteristics of persons obliged to leave (type and duration of detention, if applicable) 
or returned (destination country, type of bilateral or EU level readmission agreement/arrangement used). 

33 European  Union  Agency  for  the  Operational  Management  of  Large-Scale  IT  Systems  in  the  Area  of  Freedom, 
Security  and  Justice  (eu-LISA).  Potentially  relevant  eu-LISA  systems  are  the  European  system  for  the 
comparison  of  fingerprints  of  asylum  applicants  (Eurodac),  the  Schengen  Information  System  (SIS),  the  Visa 

8 

 
 
                                                 
 
repository  for  reporting  and  statistics  (CRRS)  that  eu-LISA  is  currently  developing  to  provide 
cross-system statistical data for policy purposes on the basis of anonymised data extracted from 
the EU large-scale IT systems34. Eurostat already started initial exploratory work in this direction 
as  early  as  2018,  with  even  greater  efforts  since  2020  to  facilitate  the  smoothest  possible 
implementation of the Regulation. 

Regulation  (EU)  2018/172535  establishes  a  broad  framework  enabling  such  processing  for 
statistical  purposes,  and  Article 17a of Regulation (EC) No 223/200936 gives Eurostat a special 
EU level mandate for this. Nevertheless, the legislation currently in force governing each system 
operated by eu-LISA, including the CRRS, does not allow producing other statistical reports than 
those explicitly stated in these legal texts. This excludes a  lot of relevant statistical information 
available in the source systems from CRRS scope and thus limits the CRRS utility far below its 
full potential. While the Commission as a whole will continue to explore appropriate solutions to 
better  use  these  source  systems  for  statistical  purposes  in  the  mid  or  long  term,  urgent  policy 
needs for new statistics justify proceeding quickly in parallel with the national piloting approach. 

After  EU-level  assessment,  according  to  the  Regulation,  Eurostat  has  the  mandate  to  establish 
voluntary  pilot  studies  with  Member  States  to  test  the  feasibility  at  national  level  of  new  data 
collections  or  breakdowns.  Such  pilot  studies  will  cover  the  availability  of  appropriate  data 
sources, compilation methods and techniques, statistical quality and comparability, and additional 
costs  and  burdens  involved.  The  pilot  studies  need  to  be  representative  at  EU  level,  so  that 
Eurostat  can  evaluate  the  results  at  EU  level  with  a  view  to  considering  implementing  acts  to 
regulate the respective data collections. 

Eurostat launched a project to organise the piloting of new statistics. For this purpose, the policy 
data  needs  were  ranked  according  to  priority.  Eurostat  is  currently  analysing  feedback  from 
national data providers on the availability of appropriate data sources at national level. Subject to 
available sources and volunteering Member States, the first national pilot studies are expected to 
start in 2022. 

4.2. 

Review of international migration statistics 

Some data  gaps  exist in international  migration statistics, e.g. breakdowns of population  stocks 
by single country of citizenship, and migration by single previous/next country of residence. The 
timeliness and frequency of data collections is not sufficient to provide adequate information on 
migration  related  to  the  post-Brexit  and  COVID-19  situation.  Insufficient  geographical  detail 
contributes  to  a  failure  to  inform  regional  or  local  policies  adequately.  These  weaknesses 

Information  System  (VIS),  the  European  Travel  Information  and  Authorisation  System  (ETIAS),  and  the 
Entry/Exit System (EES). 

34 Article 39  of  Regulation  (EU)  2019/817  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20  May  2019  on 
establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa 
(OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 27); 
Article 39  of  Regulation  (EU)  2019/818  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  20  May  2019  on 
establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial 
cooperation, asylum and migration (OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 85). 

35 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection 
of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and 
agencies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39). 

36 Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European 

statistics (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164). 

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probably  cannot  be  addressed  by  voluntary  data  collections.  Further  quality  improvements  are 
needed in the future, notably to increase timeliness, comparability and coherence, and to fill data 
gaps. These issues are connected to the more fundamental problem stemming from the currently 
separate  legal  bases  for  European  statistics  related  to  population,  and  the  lack  of  an  integrated 
approach on data requirements. 

In consequence, regarding statistics on population stock and international migration, the current 
legal framework may have reached its limits to address the conceptual and harmonisation issues 
mentioned above. This is being addressed in a comprehensive and coherent future revision of the 
legal  framework  covering  the  population  and  housing  census,  demography  and  international 
migration  statistics.  A  corresponding  new  initiative  on  European  statistics  on  population37  is 
currently in preparation. It will aim, subject to an evaluation and impact assessment, to modernise 
and  integrate  all  relevant  aspects  of  European  population  statistics  into  a  coherent  and  more 
flexible legal framework. 

This  would  entail  some  consequential  amendments  to  the  Regulation,  essentially  the  need  to 
repeal  Article 3  on  migrant  population  stocks  and  international  migration  statistics.  As  regards 
asylum  and  managed  migration  statistics,  given  the  recent  amendment  of  Articles 4  to 7  of  the 
Regulation, continuity and stability is now needed for asylum and managed migration statistics to 
ensure a proper implementation with national data providers. Moreover, testing of new statistics 
to address emerging EU policy needs is planned. 

5. 

CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS 

The  Regulation  has  clearly  improved  European  statistics  on  migration  and  international 
protection.  Its  recent  amendment  has  enhanced  asylum  and  managed  migration  statistics, 
specifically on returns, resettlement, residence permits and migrant children. Furthermore, since 
the  2018  report,  the  overall  quality  has  stabilised  at  a  generally  high  level.  The  adoption  of 
Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 has also benefitted the statistical quality. The statistics produced 
for reference periods between 2018 and 2020 remain among the most relevant and widely used 
European statistics,  serving EU and national  policies, non-governmental  bodies and the general 
public. Nevertheless, the Regulation’s structural limitations to respond to evolving policy needs 
have become more entrenched in recent years, especially for statistics on international migration 
flows, population stocks, and acquisitions of citizenship. It is likely that current legislation cannot 
address these data gaps and comparability issues. 

The following actions are therefore being taken: 

1.  Implementation of the Regulation, as amended in 2020, i.e. the methodological and technical 
aspects  of  producing  revised  mandatory  statistics  from  reference  periods  in  2021  onwards. 
This includes upgrading data sources and IT systems, with national data providers receiving 
appropriate financial support from the EU budget to do so over the coming years. 

2.  The piloting of new statistics envisaged by the Regulation to address the latest policy needs 
arising from the proposed New Pact on Migration and Asylum. As mandated, Eurostat is first 

37 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12958-European-statistics-on-population-

ESOP_en  

10 

 
 
                                                 
assessing whether the new statistics can be based on information available in administrative 
sources at EU level, where source IT systems maintained by eu-LISA are the most relevant. 
In parallel, Eurostat is also establishing pilot studies and financial support at national level to 
address the most urgently needed new statistics. 

3.  Preparation of a future coherent legal framework for European population statistics in a wider 
context.  This  framework  would  incorporate  and  extend  the  statistics  on  international  and 
intra-EU  migration  flows,  population  stocks  and  acquisition  and  loss  of  citizenship  by 
ensuring reliable, detailed and comparable data on migration events, on the size, destinations 
and  origins  of  migration  flows,  and  on  the  demographic,  migration  and  socio-economic 
characteristics of migrant populations.38 

38  The  evaluation  and  impact  assessment  will  address  the  needs  for  additional  characteristics  of  population,  e.g. 
various details of subnational or subregional location, equality, anti-discrimination, vulnerability and disability 
characteristics of specific population groups, including migrant populations. 

11