Asylum applications and refugees in Australia

13,977 asylum applications by refugees were received in 2021 in Australia — according to UNHCR. Most of them came from persons with unknown origin, Malaysia and from China. A total of 17,647 decisions have been made on initial applications. Around 16% of them were answered positively. 84 percent of asylum applications have been rejected in the first instance. The most successful have been the applications of refugees from Yemen and from Libya.

In a second table below you can find the refugees who fled from Australia and made their asylum application to other countries.

› Refugee countries by origin and destination

Back to overview: Australia

Incoming asylum applications in Australia 2000 to 2021

The top line represents the total number of asylum applications (first applications + reviews). Below are the number of recognized refugees (green) and rejected applications (red).

Asylum applications from foreign refugees in Australia

The total number of initial and continuing applications refers to the year 2021. Please note that the number of decisions (acceptances or rejections) does not have to add up with the number of applications because there may still have been open cases from previous years. Also, they don't have to be closed within the same calendar year. In addition, asylum procedures can also be closed, if the applicant disappeared or withdrew the application.

Origin	Applied	Accepted	Rejected	Acceptance rate
	New Applications
unknown	2,887	587	1,834	24.2 %
Malaysia	2,149	60	3,747	1.6 %
China	1,975	102	3,995	2.5 %
Afghanistan	1,138	161	31	83.9 %
Iran	846	1,228	534	69.7 %
India	833	17	1,321	1.3 %
Vietnam	764	24	1,298	1.8 %
Thailand	515	5	208	2.3 %
Myanmar	499	16	24	40.0 %
Sri Lanka	432	60	399	13.1 %
Pakistan	392	193	372	34.2 %
Indonesia	384	13	296	4.2 %
stateless	233	100	138	42.0 %
Iraq	152	38	67	36.2 %
Timor-Leste	118	0	168	0.0 %
South Korea	115	0	24	0.0 %
Cambodia	74	5	57	8.1 %
Nigeria	60	42	44	48.8 %
United Kingdom	55	0	17	0.0 %
Ireland	52	0	5	0.0 %
Palestine	40	10	0	100.0 %
Sudan	35	5	5	50.0 %
Syria	29	29	5	85.3 %
Ethiopia	26	28	16	63.6 %
South Africa	24	0	5	0.0 %
Egypt	21	47	18	72.3 %
Lebanon	18	5	5	50.0 %
Bangladesh	15	0	83	0.0 %
Jordan	14	5	14	26.3 %
Yemen	14	20	0	100.0 %
Ghana	11	5	0	100.0 %
United States	11	0	5	0.0 %
Somalia	9	0	5	0.0 %
Japan	7	0	5	0.0 %
Albania	5	0	10	0.0 %
Congo	5	15	13	53.6 %
Eritrea	5	5	0	100.0 %
Libya	5	19	0	100.0 %
South Sudan	5	5	5	50.0 %
Zambia	5	5	0	100.0 %
Algeria	0	5	0	100.0 %
Congo (Dem. Republic)	0	0	0
Colombia	0	0	0
Fiji	0	0	0
Israel	0	0	5	0.0 %
Kenya	0	0	0
Mauritius	0	0	0
Nepal	0	0	5	0.0 %
Peru	0	0	0
Philippines	0	0	0
Papua New Guinea	0	0	0
Poland	0	0	5	0.0 %
El Salvador	0	0	0
Sierra Leone	0	0	0
Tonga	0	0	0
Turkey	0	0	0
Uganda	0	0	0
Venezuela	0	0	0
Samoa	0	0	0
Zimbabwe	0	0	0
Totals	13,977	2,859	14,788	16.2 %

Origin	Applied	Accepted	Rejected	Acceptance rate
	Reviews
unknown	68	5	0	100.0 %
Malaysia	3,857	35	949	3.6 %
China	3,365	38	1,714	2.2 %
Afghanistan	45	48	28	63.2 %
Iran	609	103	370	21.8 %
India	1,254	15	91	14.2 %
Vietnam	1,178	5	202	2.4 %
Thailand	466	0	899	0.0 %
Myanmar	42	29	0	100.0 %
Sri Lanka	587	24	481	4.8 %
Pakistan	390	78	337	18.8 %
Indonesia	302	0	42	0.0 %
stateless	32	34	5	87.2 %
Iraq	128	41	109	27.3 %
Timor-Leste	97	0	0
South Korea	11	0	14	0.0 %
Cambodia	49	0	5	0.0 %
Nigeria	44	5	20	20.0 %
United Kingdom	0	0	5	0.0 %
Ireland	6	0	0
Palestine	0	0	0
Sudan	16	0	5	0.0 %
Syria	0	0	0
Ethiopia	23	33	15	68.8 %
South Africa	5	0	5	0.0 %
Egypt	17	21	24	46.7 %
Lebanon	117	11	23	32.4 %
Bangladesh	265	22	70	23.9 %
Jordan	7	5	13	27.8 %
Yemen	0	0	0
Ghana	0	0	5	0.0 %
United States	5	0	0
Somalia	5	0	0
Japan	0	0	0
Albania	15	0	5	0.0 %
Congo	0	0	0
Eritrea	0	0	0
Libya	0	19	0	100.0 %
South Sudan	0	0	0
Zambia	0	5	0	100.0 %
Algeria	0	0	0
Congo (Dem. Republic)	16	5	5	50.0 %
Colombia	8	0	13	0.0 %
Fiji	275	5	21	19.2 %
Israel	5	0	0
Kenya	60	0	0
Mauritius	31	0	5	0.0 %
Nepal	36	5	31	13.9 %
Peru	11	0	5	0.0 %
Philippines	310	0	10	0.0 %
Papua New Guinea	28	32	10	76.2 %
Poland	0	0	0
El Salvador	5	5	0	100.0 %
Sierra Leone	5	5	0	100.0 %
Tonga	105	0	19	0.0 %
Turkey	64	27	10	73.0 %
Uganda	5	10	0	100.0 %
Venezuela	39	12	0	100.0 %
Samoa	32	5	0	100.0 %
Zimbabwe	5	11	5	68.8 %
Totals	14,045	698	5,570	11.1 %

Asylum applications of refugees from Australia

Australia is one of the countries where refugees are not only coming in. In the year 2021, there have been 5 asylum applications received from citizens from Australia in other countries.

Destination	Applied	Accepted	Rejected	Acceptance rate
	New Applications
Sweden	5	0	5	0.0 %
Netherlands	0	0	5	0.0 %
Totals	5	0	10	0.0 %

Destination	Applied	Accepted	Rejected	Acceptance rate
	Reviews
Sweden	5	0	5	0.0 %
Netherlands	0	0	0
Totals	5	0	5	0.0 %

National migrant stock from 1960 to 2020

In 2020 a total of 7,685,860 migrants lived in Australia, representing about 11 percent of the total population. These are all residents who live permanently in the country but were born in another country. The numbers includes granted refugees but no asylum seekers. The data are based on the results of censuses, as well as on estimates and projections from the United Nations Population Division.

(Values of the graph in millions of immigrants)

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