Open Data is looking into the number of Albanian asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, at the same time processing the data by gender and age group. The figures were obtained from the United Kingdom’s Office for Official Statistics. Asylum seeker is any third-country national or stateless person, who has submitted an application for international protection or has been included in such an application as a family member for e period of reference. Requests for asylum from Albanians in the United Kingdom have increased in number over the years. The first three quarters of 2022 mark the highest number of applications from Albanian nationals, 13,247. If this trend continues for the remaining of the year, the projected number of requests for 2022 is estimated to come at totral of 19,040 Albanian asylum seekers. There is a significant increase in the number of applications from our country over time.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Albanians make up for the largest share of asylum seekers in Britain for the January-September 2022 period, compared to citizens of other nationalities; more specifically, they account for 21% of the total number of asylum seekers in England and Wales (13,247 Albanians out of 63,032 individuals from all nationalities). When we consider only asylum applicants from European countries, it emerges that Albanians from the Republic of Albania account for about 79.2% of the total number of European asylum seekers.
Albanians have surpassed Afghanistan, by a large difference in numbers, as the second country in terms of the number of asylum seekers in Britain for the first three quarters of 2022, with 6,160 people (9.8% of the total number of asylum seekers).
Other Western Balkan countries have relatively low numbers of asylum seekers.
Over the years, the margin of success in decisions on Accepting or Rejecting the request for Asylum for Albanian Citizens has been increasing. Initial decision-making in Great Britain on asylum questions from 2010 to September 2022 was made for 17,018 Albanian citizens (43%), out of a total of 39,557 Albanian asylum seekers. Of these decisions, 3,451 were positive for Albanian citizens (27% of the total without withdrawals); 9,332 were refusals and 4,235 were withdrawals from the application for asylum by the citizens themselves.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The rate of asylum verdicts in favour of Albanian citizens who apply for asylum has increased in recent years. The first three quarters of 2022 mark a Admission Verdict rate, versus the total number of Asylum Verdicts (admission and rejections), equal to 64%. For 2021, this rate is 57%, for 2020, 43%, while for all previous years, the admission verdicts have been relatively low.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Men seeking asylum are in the majority among Albanian citizens seeking asylum in Britain. Throughout the January 2021-September 2022 period, about 86% of the Albanian asylum seekers are men.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Young people aged up to 29 make up more than 70% of Albanians seeking asylum in the United Kingom. The age group that prevails in requests for asylum is 18-29 years old (for the nine-month period Jan-Sept 2022, having filed 7,815 requests for asylum against 13,247 in total from Albanians).
A significant part of asylum seekers are minors, under 18 years old. About 13% of Albanian asylum seekers in Britain during the January-September 2022 period are under 18 years old (1 743 out of 13 247 people in total). This percentage has been even higher in previous years.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The total recorded number of Albanian asylum seekers in the United Kingom from 2010 to September 2022, is 39,557 individuals. Out of these, 55%, (21 304 individuals) are in the 18-29 years old age group; 24%, or 9 352 individuals are minors under 18 years, and the rest are in the over 30 years old age group.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Over the years, the share of Albanians who have applied for asylum at the border, i.e. at the UK Ports, varies at the level of 5-20%.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The majority of asylum applications from Albanians in the United Kingdom are as main applicants, i.e. single or main members of a family. About 90% (11,987 people) of Albanian asylum seekers are registered as main applicants and the rest, as part of families during the first three quarters of 2022. This shows that only a small part of Albanians apply for asylum in these countries as families.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The situation with minors remains problematic. The data shows that about 41% of asylum-seeking minors under the age of 18 in the January-September 2022, period applied unaccompanied.
For the nine-month 2022 period, 56% of asylum-seeking Albanian boys under the age of 18 have applied as unaccompanied, compared to only 3% of girls of this age group.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The numbers, from 2010 to September 2022, show that around 44% of Albanian asylum seekers under the age of 18 in the United Kingdom have applied as independent individuals. Moreover, when this categorization is further scrutinized considering gender, it turns out that 58% of asylum-seeking boys of this age group are unaccompanied compared to 9% of girls.
Source: Office for National Statistics, United Kingdom
Comments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
The numbers of Albanian minors under the age of 18, who have applied unaccompanied for asylum in the United Kingdom from 2010 – to September 2022 is 4,096, of which 694 only during the nine months of last year.
Throughout the years under examination, first-instance verdicts were made for 1,828 unaccompanied children under the age of 18 in the UK who sought asylum. 116 cases have not received either a positive or negative verdict, having withdrawed from the asylum request. Whereas, a rate as high as 70% of the overall verdicts has had a positive feedback, resulting in acceptance of the request for asylum. The number of accepted cases is 1,206. For the group of minors, the number of refusals is 506 cases.
Download excel: Albanian asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, by gender, age group, and admissionsComments and Analyses: Open Data Albania
Contributed by: Ilir Brasha
Translated by: Rezarta Cushaj
