EMN research on the policies of EU Member States and the EMN Observer Countries for monitoring the integration of migrants from non-EU/EFTA countries* (third country nationals).
EMN inform | Integration
EMN inform: ‘Monitoring the integration of third-country nationals’
31 July 2024
Study period - August 2023–July 2024
Participating EU Member States - Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Czechia (CZ), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), Finland (FI), France (FR), Croatia (HR), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Latvia (LV), the Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Sweden (SE), Slovakia (SK)
Participating Observer Countries - Montenegro (ME), Serbia (RS)
Background and scope
- In 2022, 24 million migrants from non-EU countries lived in the EU (5.3% of the total population). According to Eurostat, this number continues to grow. As a result, the integration of this group of migrants is high on national and European political agendas.
- The need for and value of comparable integration policies in the EU are reflected in the ‘EU Action plan on integration and inclusion’.
- The EMN study focuses on whether and how EU Member States and the EMN Observer Countries define, benchmark and monitor the integration of migrants from non-EU countries. The study was carried out in cooperation with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
- The study concerns the monitoring of the integration of all legally residing migrants from non-EU/EFTA countries (third country nationals), including people with an asylum permit. It does not include asylum applicants whose application for international protection has been rejected but who are still legally residing in the host country.
- Under ‘third-country nationals’, the EMN understands persons who are not EU citizens (in accordance with Article 20(1) TFEU) and who do not enjoy the right to free movement within the EU (in accordance with Article 2(5) of EU Regulation 2016/399, i.e. the Schengen Borders Code).
EMN publications
- EMN inform, 'Monitoring the integration of third country nationals’, 31 July 2024
- EMN news item,‘New EMN inform explores how the integration of third-country nationals is monitored across the EU’, 31 July 2024
EMN Netherlands publications
- EMN Netherlands two-pager (analysis from a Dutch perspective), ‘Monitoren van de integratie van onderdanen uit landen van buiten de EU’ (Dutch), August 2026
- News item, 'Monitoring integration leads to new policy in half of EU countries', 1 August 2026
*EFTA: European Free Trade Association, mainly known by the English abbreviation EFTA. Countries: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland.
