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: 2024-07-30
Institutions: European Commission, Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, European Statistical System, asylum seeker, data collection, immigration, international protection, migration statistics, migratory movement, residence permit, statistical method

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.7.2024  COM(2024) 327 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  862/2007 (1)  (‘the  Regulation’)  establishes  common  rules  for  producing 
European  statistics  on  migration  and  international  protection  in  the  EU.  These  cover,  under 
Article 3,  statistics  on  international  migration,  including  migration  flows,  migrant  stocks  as 
well  as  acquisition  of  citizenship.  They  also  cover,  under  Articles  4  to  7,  statistics  on  asylum 
and managed migration that involve: 

•  asylum applications, including by unaccompanied minors, first instance decisions and 
appeal decisions that grant or withdraw various forms of international protection, and 
people resettled to the EU; 

•  statistics on Member States applying the Dublin III Regulation (2); 

•  non-EU nationals refused entry to the Member State at the external border or found to 

be illegally present under national law; 

• 

residence permits issued to non-EU nationals, length of permit validity and reason for 
the permit being issued; and 

•  non-EU  nationals  ordered  to  leave  the  territory  of  a  Member  State  or  recorded  as 

departing after an order was issued. 

This  is  the  fifth  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  Regulation,  as  required  by  Article 12  and 
following  reports  in  2012 (3),  2015 (4),  2018 (5)  and  2021 (6).  It  provides  information  on  the 
progress  made  to  implement  the  Regulation  since  2021  and  presents  the  next  steps  to  further 
improve the quality of these statistics. 

2.  KEY DEVELOPMENTS SINCE 2021 

After continued improvements leading up to the 2018 report, general data availability and quality 
have  stabilised  at  a  high  level,  as  documented  in  the  2021  report.  Several  further  technical 
improvements  since  2021  have  helped  to  maintain  the  high  relevance  of  statistical  outputs,  as 

(1)  Regulation  (EC)  No  862/2007  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  Community  statistics  on 

migration and international protection (OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 23). 

(2)  Regulation  (EU)  No  604/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  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 

(6)  COM(2021) 489 

2 

 
 
 
well  as  make  data  validation  and  processing  more  efficient.  Throughout  the  COVID-19 
pandemic,  Member  States  and  Eurostat  ensured  that  data  transmissions  and  publications 
respected their release calendar.  

On 4 March 2022, the Council introduced temporary protection for people fleeing Ukraine as a 
consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (7). While the legal provisions under 
the  Regulation  provided  for  the  collection  of  quarterly  data  on  the  granting  of  temporary 
protection, the need for additional and more frequent and timely statistics in this area  became a 
priority.  This  resulted  in  the  voluntary  collection  of  monthly  statistics  on  the  granting  of 
temporary protection as well as on the stock of beneficiaries of temporary protection status from 
all EU and EFTA countries.   

However,  due  to  the  rapidly  changing  nature  of  social  and  demographic  phenomena  including 
migration, new needs have arisen for more timely and more detailed regular European statistics. 

In 2020, the Regulation was amended (8) to update statistics on asylum and managed migration 
under Articles 4 to 7 in terms of new variables, more detailed breakdowns and more frequent data 
collections for reference periods from 2021 onwards. Eurostat regularly monitors the progress on 
necessary  adaptations  in  national  production  systems  in  affected  Member  States.  In  line  with 
Article 11a of the Regulation, the Commission granted temporary derogations (9) to 16 Member 
States,  with  a  maximum  expiration  date  set  for  31  December  2023.  By  the  end  of  2023,  11 
countries  started  to  submit  the  data  in  line  with  requests  before  their  derogations  expired. 
Punctual non-compliance issues  following the  end of the  derogation period  were identified  and 
are  followed  up  bilaterally.  As  required  by  Article  9b  of  the  Regulation,  the  Commission 
provides  financial  contributions  from  the  general  budget  of  the  Union  to  support  necessary 
development  or  implementation  actions  in  Member  States.  The  relevant  instruments  are  grants 
provided by Eurostat and support under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (10). 

Furthermore, the Commission (Eurostat) has carried out pilot studies, as required by Article 9a of 
the Regulation, to test the feasibility of new data collections or disaggregations. It is evaluating 
the results in close cooperation with a dedicated task force on the pilot studies for new Asylum & 
Managed  Migration  Statistics.  Depending  on  these  results,  the  Commission  may  consider 
preparing  implementing  acts  introducing  legal  obligation  to  transmit  such  statistics  to  the 

(7)  Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 establishing the existence of a mass influx of displaced persons 
from  Ukraine  within  the  meaning  of  Article  5  of  Directive  2001/55/EC,  and  having  the  effect  of  introducing 
temporary protection (OJ L 71, 4.3.2022, p. 1). 

(8)  Regulation  (EU)  2020/851  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No 

862/2007 (OJ L 198, 22.6.2020, p. 1). 

(9)  Commission  Implementing  Decision  (EU)  2021/431  granting  derogations  to  certain  Member  States  from 

Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 (OJ L 86, 12.3.2021, p. 5). 

(10)  Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Asylum, Migration 

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

3 

 
 
 
Commission  (Eurostat).  The  first  report  on  progress  with  the  pilot  studies  was  published  in 
2022 (11).  

Moreover,  the  Commission  launched  an  initiative  in  2021  to  overhaul  the  legal  framework  for 
population and housing statistics. In this context, an evaluation of the current legal framework – 
including international migration statistics under Article 3 of the Regulation – pinpointed several 
significant  gaps.  The  Commission  therefore  proposed  a  new  integrated  legal  framework,  for 
which the legislative procedure is ongoing (see Section 4). 

3.  QUALITY OF THE STATISTICS PRODUCED  

To  implement  the  Regulation,  Eurostat  continues  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  asylum  and  managed  migration 
usually come directly from interior ministries, immigration services or police authorities. 

To  evaluate  the  quality  of  incoming  data,  Eurostat  collects  extensive  metadata  and  quality 
information  from  Member  States.  The  resulting  national  metadata  reports  serve  for  quality 
checks,  evaluation  and  further  improvements (12).  They  help  users  to  interpret  and  use  the 
statistics correctly. In the following sections, various quality dimensions are addressed. 

3.1.  Relevance 

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 carry out policy analysis. 

In  September  2020,  the  Commission  proposed  the  Pact  on  Migration  and  Asylum (13).  The 
package  adopted  in  2024  includes  Regulation  (EU)  2024/1351  on  asylum  and  migration 
management (14),  which  requires  the  Commission  to  publish  a  European  Annual  Asylum  and 
Migration Report assessing the asylum, reception and migratory situation over the previous 12-
month  period.  This  report  must  be  based  on  relevant  data  and  information  provided  by  the 
Member  States  and  various  European  bodies  and  agencies,  including  statistics  under  the 
Regulation.  

Statistics under the Regulation are also used to determine budgetary allocations to Member States 
for  some  EU  funds  under  the  2021-2027  multiannual  financial  framework.  National  funding 

(11)  SWD(2022) 198 

(12)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en: demo_pop_esms.htm; migr_immi_esms.htm; 
migr_acqn_esms.htm; migr_asytp_esms.htm; migr_asyapp_esms.htm; migr_asydec_esms.htm; 
migr_dub_esms.htm; migr_eil_esms.htm; migr_res_esms.htm (English only). 

(13)  Pact on Migration and Asylum - European Commission (europa.eu) 

(14)  Regulation  (EU)  2024/1351  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  asylum  and  migration 

management (OJ L, 2024/1351, 22.5.2024). 

4 

 
 
 
allocations under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and the Border Management and 
Visa  Policy  Instrument (15)  rely  on  the  latest  annual  statistics  under  the  Regulation.  These 
statistics  also  contribute  to  the  evidence  needed  to  focus  on  strategic  priorities  in  the  external 
dimension of the EU migration policies, including when deciding on funding allocations (16). 

Statistics  on  migration  and  international  protection  are  also  used  by  migration-related  EU 
agencies  such  as  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency  (Frontex)  and  the  EU  Asylum 
Agency, who Eurostat works closely with on data collection and statistical methodology.  

Examples of relevant publications are the 2023 Report on the impact of demographic change (17), 
the 2024 Ageing Report (18), as well as publications from the Commission’s Knowledge Centre 
on  Migration  and  Demography (19)  such  as  the  Atlas  of  Demography (20)  and  the  Atlas  of 
Migration (21),  and  from  the  European  Migration  Network (22)  such  as  the  Annual  Report  on 
Migration and Asylum 2022 (23). Eurostat is a leading statistics contributor to such publications. 

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

include  national  administrations, 

3.2.  Accuracy 

Member  States  are  constantly  maintaining  or  improving  statistical  accuracy  at  a  high  level. 
Specific  accuracy  issues  remain  on  international  migration  data.  These  relate  both  to  under-
coverage (when people do not register their place of residence) and over-coverage (when people 
do  not  deregister,  as  there  is  often  no  obligation  or  incentive  to  do  so).  To  further  improve 
accuracy in this domain, some Member States exchange data, and use estimation techniques and 

(15)  Regulation (EU) 2021/1148 of the European Parliament and of the Council 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). 

(16)  Regulation  (EU)  2021/947  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  establishing  the  Neighbourhood, 

Development and International Cooperation Instrument – Global Europe (OJ L 209, 14.6.2021, p. 1) 

(17)  https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/new-push-european-democracy/impact-

demographic-change-europe_en 

(18)  https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/2024-ageing-report-underlying-assumptions-and-projection-

methodologies_en 

(19)  https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/organisation/kcmd-knowledge-centre-migration-demography_en 

(20)  https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/atlas-demography_en 

(21)  https://migration-demography-tools.jrc.ec.europa.eu/atlas-migration 

(22)  https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/european-migration-network-emn_en 

(23)  https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/european-migration-network-emn/emn-publications/emn-annual-

reports_en  

5 

 
 
 
additional administrative data sources. Freedom of movement within the EU and issues related to 
personal  data  protection  constrain  further  improvements  in  the  statistical  quality,  especially  of 
intra-EU movements. 

3.3.  Timeliness and punctuality 

Depending  on  the  type  of  data,  the  deadline  to  supply  data  to  Eurostat  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  aim  to  ensure  the  punctual 
provision of data. Transmission deadlines have been generally observed, with mostly constant or 
slightly  improving  trends  since  2021.  Other  non-recurring  issues  remain  rare,  for  instance 
isolated  disruptions  due  to  staff  unavailability  or  computer  system  failures.  The  COVID-19 
pandemic did not affect the implementation of the release calendar. 

3.4.  Accessibility 

The  statistical  data  and  metadata  are  freely  available  on  Eurostat’s  website  under  the  theme 
Migration  and  asylum (24).  Moreover,  these  statistics  feature  in  regularly  updated  Statistics 
Explained articles (25) and in compendium publications like Key figures on Europe (26). 

Statistics  produced  under  the  Regulation  remain  among  the  most  widely  consulted  European 
statistics.  Since  2021,  thematic  sections  on  migration  and  asylum  statistics (27)  have  held  top 
popularity  ranks  on  the  Eurostat  website,  showing  high  user  interest.  The  Statistics  Explained 
article  on  migration  and  migrant  population  statistics (28)  is  one  of  the  most  visited  articles. 
Eurostat  has  regularly  produced  publications  on  asylum  and  managed  migration,  including  a 
popular  article  on  annual  asylum  statistics,  which  garnered  significant  attention (29).  These 
statistics  are  also  very  visible  in  Eurostat’s  social  media  channels.  A  set  of  new  indicators  for 
international  migration  as  well  as  for  asylum  and  managed  migration  was  released  in  2023.  A 
new interactive publication Migration and asylum in Europe (30) and a new Migrant integration 
and inclusion dashboard (31) were published in 2024. 

(24)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/migration-asylum (English, French and German). 

(25)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Migration_and_asylum (English only). 

(26)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-key-figures/w/ks-ei-23-001 (English, French and German).  

(27)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/migration-asylum 

(28)  http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Migration_and_migrant_population_statistics 

(29)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?oldid=599145 

(30)  Migration and asylum in Europe – 2023 edition - Eurostat (europa.eu) 

(31)  Migrant integration and inclusion dashboard (europa.eu) 

6 

 
 
 
3.5.  Coherence and comparability 

Methodological and compilation guidelines have long been in place and  are regularly improved 
for all statistics under the Regulation. They help Member States to ensure comparability, in line 
with EU legislation and international recommendations. 

International  migration  statistics  continue  to  be  highly  consistent  with  the  statistics  covered  by 
Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 (32). To ensure comparability, Eurostat verifies whether the data 
received  are  consistent  internally  and  over  time,  and  whether  they  are  comparable  between 
regions  and  countries.  On  comparability  between  countries,  the  Regulation  establishes 
harmonised  definitions  for  migration  flow  data.  Problems  in  applying  specific  definitions  for 
statistics  on  migration  flows  and  acquisition  of  citizenship  have  been  among  the  hardest  to 
address. Since the 2021 report, the data transmitted for statistics on international migration and 
acquisition of citizenship have generally remained highly compliant with the Regulation. 

Statistics  on  asylum  and  managed  migration  generally  have  a  good  level  of  compliance  with 
definitions in the Regulation. Some specific issues persist in a few Member States, but mostly at 
the level of breakdown sub-categories. 

On  the  general  population  base  definition,  the  Regulation  allows  Member  States  to  define  the 
migrant  stock  as  being  either  usually  resident  or,  by  default,  legally  or  registered  resident. 
Regulation  (EU)  No 1260/2013  requires  Member  States  to  ensure  that  population  stock  data 
under Article 3 are consistent with stock data required under Article 3(1)(c) of the Regulation, as 
statisticians and demographers systematically use these stock data together. This ensures a fully 
consistent  set  of  stock  data  at  national  level  at  the  expense  of  reduced  comparability  between 
countries.  Moreover,  international  migration  flows  are  based  on  a  harmonised  concept  of 
residence of at least 12 months. As a result, these flows are not always coherent with changes in 
the  aforementioned  stocks.  These  issues  are  crucial  when  wider  harmonisation  in  population 
statistics  as  a  whole  –  covering  census,  demography  and  international  migration  –  is  addressed 
more comprehensively at EU level (see Section 4). 

Where  comparisons  are  possible  at  international  level,  there  is  generally  a  high  degree  of 
consistency  with  data  collected  and  published  elsewhere  by  national  and  international 
organisations.  Eurostat  cooperates  closely  with  the  EU  Asylum  Agency  and  Frontex  to  ensure 
coherence  of  the  methodology  and  the  statistics  with  the  methodologies  applied  and  data 
collected by these agencies.  

Eurostat also cooperates at international level to promote statistical coherence. It participates in 
the UN Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics (33) and is a member 
of  its  Steering  Committee.  Eurostat  contributes  to  the  group’s  work  with  methodological  and 
written  contributions  to  the  various  outputs,  but  also  administratively  and  financially.  The 
group’s  work  led  to  the  UN  approving  the  International  Recommendations  on  Statelessness 

(32)  Regulation  (EU)  No  1260/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  European  demographic 

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

(33)  https://egrisstats.org/ (English only). 

7 

 
 
 
Statistics (34) in  2023. This recommendation, together with  earlier recommendations on refugee 
and  internally  displaced  persons  statistics,  set  the  global  standard  for  producing  statistics  on 
forced  displacement.  For  instance,  they  call  for  closing  gaps  and  ensuring  proper  standards  in 
statistics on forcibly displaced children, unaccompanied minors and people with a disability.  

Since 2020, Eurostat has been an Advisory Board member of the International Data Alliance for 
Children  on  the  Move (35),  a  cross-sectoral  global  initiative  co-funded  by  the  EU  that  aims  to 
improve data and statistics and support evidence-based policymaking for migrant and displaced 
children. Eurostat contributes to the work of the group in areas like strengthening national data 
systems  and  capacities  to  protect  migrant  and  forcibly  displaced  children,  promoting  and 
establishing  methods  for  child-specific  data,  and  improving  data  visibility,  availability, 
accessibility and usability. Eurostat has also been a member of a new UN Economic Commission 
for Europe Task Force on Measuring Emigration (36) since 2023.  

4.  ONGOING WORK TO ADDRESS CURRENT AND EVOLVING POLICY NEEDS 

4.1.  Piloting new statistics on asylum and managed migration 

Article 9a of the Regulation requires the Commission (Eurostat) to establish pilot studies. These 
are to be carried out on a voluntary basis by the Member States to test the feasibility of specific 
new data collections or disaggregations, including the availability of appropriate data sources and 
production techniques, statistical quality and comparability, and the cost and burden involved. 

In 2021, Eurostat set up a task force on pilot studies. Until 2023, this task force had discussed and 
approved guidelines and templates proposed by Eurostat for relevant pilot data collections. 

After two waves of data collections up to October 2023, out of 31 countries (27 Member States 
and 4 EFTA countries) invited, only between 2 and 9 countries have submitted data, depending 
on the domain and data set. Participation has therefore been extremely low so far and does not 
guarantee representativeness at EU level, as required by Article 9a for any regulatory action.  

As  a  result,  Eurostat  proposed  a  form  of  prioritisation  that  aims  to  increase  participation  by 
focusing on the most promising data sets in terms of feasibility and policy relevance. Following 
this  adjusted  approach,   Eurostat launched a new round of pilot  data collections  in  April 2024, 
with a transmission deadline of 31 August 2024. If representativeness of a pilot study is achieved, 
the feasibility of potential regular data collections will be assessed. 

4.2.  Evaluation of the current statistical framework including international migration 

In  2021,  the  Commission  conducted  a  comprehensive  evaluation  of  the  current  framework  for 
European  statistics  on  population  and  housing (37).  It  included  international  migration  statistics 

(34)  International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics IROSS (egrisstats.org) (English only). 

(35)  International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC) (IDAC) - UNICEF DATA 

(36)  https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2023-11/08_TF%20on%20measuring%20emigration_ToR_approved.pdf  

(37)  SWD(2023) 13 

8 

 
 
 
under Article 3 of the Regulation and all statistics under Regulations (EC) No 763/2008 (38) and 
(EU)  No  1260/2013.  The  scope  of  the  evaluation  was  much  wider  than  the  regular  monitoring 
described  in  Section  3  as  views  from  all  relevant  stakeholder  groups  were  collected  in  a 
systematic stakeholder consultation (39). The goal was to assess whether the original objectives of 
the current framework were achieved and identify significant gaps. 

The  evaluation  found  significant  overall  improvements  had  been  made  thanks  to  the  current 
framework, compared to the initial problems and needs faced by the statistical community before 
its  entry  into  force.  In  particular,  the  current  framework  has  significantly  increased  EU  value 
added  by  improving  –  for  the  data  sets  that  became  mandatory  –  several  statistical  quality 
dimensions  at  EU  level,  including  completeness,  consistency  and  timeliness.  Moreover,  the 
current  legislation  has  delivered  on  all  relevant  needs  for  policymaking  and  institutions  at  EU 
level that were known when it was developed (2005-2013). This has improved the effectiveness, 
efficiency  and  coherence  of  statistical  production  compared  to  the  previous  situation,  which 
relied  solely  on  voluntary  data  collections.  The  stakeholder  consultation  confirmed  these 
improvements.  Nevertheless,  the  evaluation  also  identified  four  significant  gaps  in  the  current 
framework. 

Gap 1: Coherence, comparability, completeness 

Although the Regulation sets common definitions for key statistical concepts, flexibility remains 
in  the  population  definition.  Member  States  currently  apply  three  different  concepts  (usual 
residence,  registered  residence,  legal  residence)  allowed  by  the  Regulation,  sometimes  using 
different concepts for different data sets (see Section 3.5). This central issue has caused a lack of 
comparability  and  coherence  in  the  data  from  different  Member  States,  reducing  the  EU  added 
value.  Moreover,  statistics  that  remain  voluntary  are  often  incomplete  at  EU  level  due  to  data 
missing from a few Member States. This reduces the overall cost-effectiveness significantly, as 
the majority of Member States spend resources on producing them, but a complete EU picture is 
not achieved. 

Gap 2: Timeliness and frequency 

Article 3 of the Regulation covers only annual statistics on international migration, with data sets 
to  be provided 12 months  after the  end of the reference period. Even though  overall timeliness 
has improved under the Regulation compared to previous fully voluntary data collections, mainly 
because excessive delays by very few Member States have been resolved, it remains below user 
expectations.  The  data  provided  under  the  Regulation  are  less  timely  than  similar  national 
publications across the majority of Member States. Under the Regulation, the legal deadlines and 
periodicities  of  statistics  cannot  be  improved,  e.g.  to  cover  infra-annual  international  migration 
statistics.  Another  ordinary  legislative  procedure  would  therefore  be  needed  to    improve 
deadlines  or  periodicities,  similar  to  the  2020  amendment  that  introduced  quarterly  return 
statistics in Article 7.  

(38)  Regulation  (EC)  No  763/2008  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  population  and  housing 

censuses (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 14). 

(39)  SWD(2023) 15 

9 

 
 
 
Gap 3: Details of societally relevant topics and groups 

The  Regulation  focuses  on  data  needs  for  policy  priorities  at  the  time  it  was  developed.  Over 
time,  priorities  have  changed  and  the  available  statistics  on  international  migration  no  longer 
adequately  cover  policy-relevant  characteristics  and  topics.  The  gaps  confirmed  in  the 
stakeholder  consultation  relate  to  the  characteristics  of  immigrants.  There  is  also  a  lack  of 
geographic granularity, including migration flows at regional level. 

Gap 4: Lack of flexibility of the legal framework 

Compounding  the  above-mentioned  weaknesses,  the  existing  legislation  lacks  the  flexibility  to 
adapt  to  new  and emerging  needs for statistics. New data sources in  Member States and  at  EU 
level (in particular administrative data, including interoperability systems and privately held data) 
also offer potential improvements in terms of costs and timeliness, but the current legislation does 
not allow these developments to be embraced. The legal framework has therefore not been able to 
adapt  to  any  policy-relevant  changes  since  it  was  adopted,  and  has  therefore  been  losing 
relevance quickly. 

4.3.  Modernisation  of  international  migration  statistics  as  part  of  the  redevelopment  of 

European statistics on population 

The  evaluation  identified  several  legislative  drivers  for  the  significant  gaps  outlined  in  Section 
4.2 and pointed to administrative redundancies in compliance, enforcement and monitoring as the 
current  legislation  is  scattered  across  three  legal  acts.  Based  on  a  subsequent  impact 
assessment (40),  the  Commission  therefore  proposed  a  new  framework  regulation  on  European 
statistics  on  population  and  housing  that  addresses  the  legislative  drivers  for  the  gaps  above, 
while aiming to consolidate the separate acts into a single regulation (41). 

The  proposal  contains  ambitious  elements  to  strengthen  general  consistency  and  the  links 
between  all  EU  social  statistics  based  on  persons  and  households,  including  under  Regulation 
(EU) 2019/1700 (42). It supports the implementation of a harmonised population definition based 
on  sound  statistical  estimation  concepts,  and  enables  access  to  available  data  sources  that  will 
improve the production processes and general quality of social statistics. The proposal also aligns 
population  and  international  migration  statistics  more  with  statistics  on  asylum  and  managed 
migration  under  Articles  4  to  7  of  the  Regulation (43).  At  the  time  of  this  report,  the  ordinary 
legislative procedure on the proposal was ongoing (44). 

(40)  SWD(2023) 11 

(41)  COM(2023) 31 

(42)  Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common framework 
for  European  statistics  relating  to  persons  and  households,  based  on  data  at  individual  level  collected  from 
samples (OJ L 261I , 14.10.2019, p. 1). 

(43)  To  ensure  consistency,  the  proposal  aims  to  put  all  statistical  topics  related  to  the  usually  resident  population 
(including  migrant  stocks,  international  migration  flows  and  acquisition  of  citizenship  currently  covered  by 
Article  3  of  the  Regulation)  into  the  new  framework.  Conversely,  statistics  on  administrative  and  judicial 
procedures related to asylum and managed migration would remain in the Regulation. 

(44)  Procedure 2023/0008/COD 

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5.  CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS 

Thanks  to  the  continued  joint  efforts  of  the  European  Statistical  System (45),  the  Regulation  is 
well implemented. This leads to the regular publication of overall high-quality European statistics 
on  migration  and  international  protection,  needed  by  EU  institutions  and  policymakers  at  all 
levels.  Legal  compliance  and  statistical  quality  are  monitored  regularly  and,  as  in  the  previous 
report of 2021, there are no major compliance issues. 

Nevertheless,  an  evaluation  of  the  current  framework  for  population  statistics  identified  four 
significant  gaps:  lack  of  harmonisation  of  the  population  definition;  insufficient  timeliness  and 
frequency of statistics; lack of detail on relevant groups and topics; and lack of flexibility to adapt 
to  changing  needs  or  new  data  sources.  The  Commission  has  therefore  proposed  a  single  new 
framework  regulation  on  European  population  statistics  that  would  consolidate  the  legal 
framework and address these gaps. 

The following actions are being taken: 

1.  Complete  implementation  of  the  2020  revision  by  concluding  the  period  of  derogations, 
concluding  the  pilot  studies  required  by  Article  9a  of  the  Regulation,  and  evaluating  the 
results in cooperation with Member States in view of potential new mandatory statistics under 
Articles 4 to 7. 

2.  Continue  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure  (footnote  44)  on  a  new  integrated  legal 
framework for European population statistics that would incorporate and extend the statistics 
on migration flows, migrant stocks and acquisition of citizenship under Article 3. 

(45)  https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/european-statistical-system  

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