EMN presents 'Asylum and Migration Overview 2024'

2024 was an eventful year for asylum and migration policy in Europe. The adoption of the European Migration Pact was an important milestone. Border management and the extension of the Temporary Protection Directive were high on the agenda. Several Member States introduced stricter asylum policies.

> Read the full ‘Asylum and migration overview 2024’ or consult the interactive summary (in English)

The European Migration Network's Asylum and Migration Overview 2024 highlights these and other developments in the field of migration and asylum in Europe. It provides a comprehensive overview of policy and legal developments within various migration and asylum themes in EU Member States and EMN observer countries in 2024, including statistics from Eurostat.

A number of important developments and trends in 2024

• Approval of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will enter into force in June 2026.
• Introduction of more restrictive migration and asylum policies by several EU Member States.
• Decline in the number of first asylum applications in the EU (plus Norway) to 917,215 (-13%). International protection nevertheless remained an important area of policy development at national and EU level.
• Decrease in the number of irregular border crossings into the EU by 38%, to just over 239,000 (the lowest number since 2021).
• Strengthening of external border management and clarification of the conditions for internal border controls as a last resort (the revised Schengen Borders Code) and full accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area.
• The new screening regulation and preparations for large IT systems at the EU border.
• Extension (until March 2026) of the Temporary Protection Directive for people who fled the war in Ukraine. Nationally, there was a greater emphasis on the transition from emergency measures to sustainable long-term approaches.