The Asylum Report 2026, published by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), provides a comprehensive overview of asylum-related developments across EU+ countries. It presents the main policy, legislative and operational changes in the asylum field over 2025 and early 2026. The report analyses asylum trends, decision-making practices, reception systems and preparedness for the implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. It also includes comparative country information and key EU-level developments shaping asylum systems across Europe.

The report provides an in‑depth overview of Belgium’s status for smuggling victims, highlighting its objectives, legal framework, and practical implementation. It examines how the status is applied, who benefits from it, and the operational challenges encountered. The publication also identifies gaps in data collection and coordination between agencies. Finally, it offers evidence‑based recommendations to strengthen victim protection and improve the overall effectiveness of the system.

The report compiles available figures for the period 2015–2024 and examines how data are recorded, shared and used. It provides a clearer statistical basis for understanding the situation of minors at risk of trafficking and aggravated forms of smuggling, while identifying structural gaps in current data systems.

The Latest Asylum Trends 2025 provides an annual overview of asylum activity in EU+ countries, covering asylum applications (per capita), the main nationalities of applicants, the top receiving countries, recognition rates, pending cases and the number of beneficiaries of temporary protection following the war in Ukraine. It also reviews policy developments in the EU+ and provides a 2026 outlook, examining, inter alia, geopolitical uncertainty and latent displacement risks.

Over the project's lifetime, the project team investigated the scope, availability and comparability of quantitative data in the area of migration, integration and discrimination in Europe, studying available statistical data and data collection in 29 countries.

Ms Joëlle Milquet, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Equal Opportunities responsible for migration and asylum policy, asked the European Economic and Social Committee to draw up an exploratory opinion on the role of legal immigration in the context of demographic challenges.

Eurostat states that around 15 000 fewer asylum applicants were registered in the EU27 during the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009

IOM-study: Migration between Russia and the European Union - Policy Implications from a Small-Scale Study of Irregular Migrants