How people arrive

Three channels, tracked separately and not additive: refugee/asylum protection, authorised work permits (per country, on each profile), and people found without authorisation. Mostly EU/EFTA reporters — not a global ranking.

Data updated

Found illegally present, 2025
719K
-22% on 2024
First-time asylum applicants
672K
-26% on 2024
Ordered to leave
487K
+5% on 2024
Returned after an order
156K
32% of that year's orders
birthrate.ioMigration

Arrivals, orders and returns in the EU, 2008–2025

Third-country nationals found illegally present (illegal stay), first-time asylum applicants, orders to leave, and returns that followed an order. EU-27; orders and returns are published for the EU from 2013.

Source: Eurostat (migr_eiord, migr_eirtn, migr_eipre, migr_asyappctza, migr_asydcfsta). Eurostat publishes EU-27 first-time asylum applicants from 2014.birthrate.io/migration/pathways#trend

Who arrives, and who is sent back

EU-27 totals by citizenship. Algerians and Moroccans are ordered to leave most often but rarely returned; Georgians and Albanians mostly are.

birthrate.ioMigration

Found illegally present in the EU by citizenship, 2025

Third-country nationals, EU-27 total. Top 20 citizenships.

  • 🇩🇿Algeria71K
  • 🇦🇫Afghanistan43K
  • 🇲🇦Morocco39K
  • 🇺🇦Ukraine37K
  • 🇧🇩Bangladesh34K
  • 🇹🇷Türkiye34K
  • 🇪🇬Egypt32K
  • 🇸🇾Syria29K
  • 🇦🇱Albania23K
  • 🇹🇳Tunisia23K
  • 🇲🇩Moldova22K
  • 🇸🇩Sudan21K
  • 🇪🇷Eritrea18K
  • 🇵🇰Pakistan17K
  • 🇬🇪Georgia16K
  • 🇮🇳India14K
  • 🇸🇴Somalia14K
  • 🇬🇳Guinea11K
  • 🇮🇶Iraq11K
  • 🇲🇱Mali11K
Source: Eurostat (migr_eiord, migr_eirtn, migr_eipre, migr_asyappctza, migr_asydcfsta). Return rate compares returns and orders in the same year, not the same people.birthrate.io/migration/pathways#citizenship
birthrate.ioMigration

Found illegally present in the EU by citizenship, 2008–2024

Albanians led until 2010, Syrians and Afghans dominated 2015, and Syrians have led again since 2021. Pick up to four citizenships.

SyriaAfghanistanMoroccoUkraine
Source: Eurostat migr_eipre, EU-27. Administrative detections, so one person can be counted more than once, and it is not an estimate of everyone living without permission.birthrate.io/migration/pathways#origins

Orders to leave & returns, by country

France issues by far the most orders to leave and carries out about one in seven. Spain and Portugal return even fewer; Sweden, Austria and the Baltic states return most of theirs.

birthrate.ioMigration

Orders to leave and actual returns, by country

Each pair of bars is one country's latest year: people ordered to leave, and people returned after an order. Countries with at least 500 orders.

Ordered to leaveReturned
  • 🇫🇷France14%
  • 🇩🇪Germany65%
  • 🇪🇸Spain11%
  • 🇳🇱Netherlands16%
  • 🇬🇷Greece19%
  • 🇧🇪Belgium21%
  • 🇮🇹Italy22%
  • 🇸🇪Sweden76%
  • 🇵🇹Portugal4.5%
  • 🇨🇾Cyprus70%
  • 🇵🇱Poland66%
  • 🇭🇷Croatia58%
  • 🇦🇹Austria72%
  • 🇨🇭Switzerland33%
  • 🇭🇺Hungary48%
  • 🇮🇪Ireland33%
  • 🇨🇿Czechia62%
  • 🇫🇮Finland38%
  • 🇱🇹Lithuania93%
  • 🇳🇴Norway30%
  • 🇧🇬Bulgaria31%
  • 🇷🇴Romania63%
  • 🇱🇻Latvia86%
  • 🇩🇰Denmark43%
  • 🇱🇺Luxembourg29%
  • 🇲🇹Malta98%
  • 🇸🇮Slovenia56%
  • 🇪🇪Estonia100%
  • 🇸🇰Slovakia85%

Percentage = returns ÷ orders in the same year.

Source: Eurostat migr_eiord and migr_eirtn. Returns in a year can follow orders from earlier years, so the rate is a rough guide, not a matched cohort.birthrate.io/migration/pathways#returns

Estimated irregular migrant stocks

MIrreM / Zenodo research estimates — order-of-magnitude only.

#CountryEstimateYear
1🇺🇸United States11.4M2022
2🇨🇦Canada675K2021
3🇬🇧United Kingdom674K2017
4🇩🇪Germany650K2017
5🇮🇹Italy458K2023
6🇪🇸Spain430K2019
7🇵🇹Portugal300K2022
8🇫🇷France250K2017
9🇬🇷Greece150K2017
10🇧🇪Belgium110K2008
11🇦🇹Austria62K2022
12🇳🇱Netherlands40.5K2018
13🇮🇪Ireland17.8K2020
14🇵🇱Poland14.5K2019
15🇫🇮Finland4K2023

Border detections & migrant deaths

Frontex route detections and IOM Missing Migrants regional totals — undercounts; not destination-country rankings.

birthrate.io

Detected illegal border crossings — EU total

Frontex FRAN/JORA detections on EU external borders. Counts detections, not unique persons.

Detections

Source: Frontex

birthrate.io

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birthrate.io

Detections by migratory route

Same Frontex series, split by route into the EU.

Source: Frontex

birthrate.io

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birthrate.io

Recorded migrant deaths & disappearances

IOM Missing Migrants Project — known undercounts. Mediterranean is broken out from broader Europe.

Source: IOM Missing Migrants Project

birthrate.io

Have a correction, a better estimate, or additional data—at the global, national, regional, or city level? Help improve the data

What this page measures

Third-country Nationals Ordered to Leavepeople
Third-country nationals issued an order to leave the territory during the year (Eurostat migr_eiord, annual, rounded). Administrative count of enforcement decisions, not of people who actually left. Source: Eurostat.
Third-country Nationals Returned After Orderpeople
Third-country nationals returned following an order to leave during the year (Eurostat migr_eirtn, annual, rounded). Compared with orders, this measures the enforcement gap. Source: Eurostat.
Return Rate After Order to Leave% of orders
Returned persons as a share of persons ordered to leave in the same year (Eurostat migr_eirtn ÷ migr_eiord × 100). A crude annual ratio — orders and returns are not a matched cohort. Source: Eurostat.
Estimated Irregular Migrant Stockpeople
Research estimates of the stock of irregular / unauthorized migrants residing in the country (compiled collection covering selected EU countries, Canada and the United States). Methodologies and reference years differ; treat as an order-of-magnitude estimate, not an official count. Source: Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo).
Detected Illegal Border Crossingsdetections
Detected illegal border crossings on EU external borders (Frontex). Counts detections, not unique persons; the same person can be counted more than once. Route-level figures are attributed to the EU destination region of the route. Source: Frontex — EU border detections.
Recorded Migrant Deaths & Disappearancespeople
Deaths and disappearances of people in the process of migration toward an international destination, recorded by the IOM Missing Migrants Project. Region-of-incident attribution; figures are known undercounts. Source: IOM Missing Migrants Project.
  • Eurostat returns and Frontex detections are EU reporting series — not global rankings.
  • Irregular-stock figures are research estimates (MIrreM); methods and population definitions differ by country.
  • IOM Missing Migrants totals are undercounts and are published by region of incident, not destination country.

Definitions for every indicator are listed in the glossary, and collection methods in the methodology.

Sources & citation
  • Eurostat — European statistical office — crime, population and social statistics for EU/EFTA and candidate countries. Licence: Eurostat terms (CC BY 4.0).
  • Frontex — EU border detections — Detected illegal border crossings on EU external borders, by migratory route. Administrative detections, not a population estimate. Licence: Frontex terms.
  • IOM Missing Migrants Project — Recorded deaths and disappearances of people in the process of migration toward an international destination. Region-level; undercounts are likely. Licence: IOM terms.
  • Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo) — Compiled research estimates of irregular / unauthorized migrant stocks for selected Western countries (EU, Canada, United States). Methodologies differ by country; treat as order-of-magnitude, not census counts. Licence: CC BY 4.0.

birthrate.io, "How people arrive". https://www.birthrate.io/migration/pathways (accessed 12 November 2026). Underlying data: Eurostat; Frontex — EU border detections; IOM Missing Migrants Project; Irregular migrant stock estimates (Zenodo).

Please cite the original statistical agency for the underlying figures. Charts and tables on this page may be reused with attribution.