RefNZ StatisticsNew Zealand Refugee Statistics
Last updated: 25 February 2005RefNZ Statistics provides key New Zealand refugee statistics. The statistics are listed in the Index below. Unless otherwise stated, the statistics have been obtained under the Official Information Act 1982. Further statistics will be added as they become available. Use the Index to link to statistics of interest.
Refugee Status Branch: General Statistics
Index Table 1: The number of people arriving at New Zealand airports and indicating a wish to apply for refugee status (spontaneous refugees) in the calendar years from 1991 to 1996 and the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.Refugee Status Branch:Statistics by NationalityTable 2: The number of refugee status applications submitted to the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1990/91 to 2002/2003.
Table 3: The number of refugee status applications determined, and the number of applications and people approved and declined by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.
Table 4: Number of applications lodged with the Refugee Status Branch per client during the period 01 July 1999 to 30 June 2004.
Table 5: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications filed with the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1990/91 to 2002/2003.Refugee Status Branch: Statistics by GenderTable 6: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications approved by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.
Table 7: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications declined by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.
Table 8: Breakdown by gender of the applications received by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2001/2002.Table 9: Breakdown by gender of the applications approved by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.
Table 10: Breakdown by gender of the applications declined by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.
Table 11: Breakdown of success rates by gender as a percentage of the both successful applications and total applications decided by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.
Refugee Status Appeals Authority: General Statistics
Table 12: The number of appeals received, withdrawn, heard, published and finalised by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including the number of outstanding appeals, in the financial years from 1991/92 to 2004/2005.Refugee Status Appeals Authority: Statistics by NationalityTable 13: The number and percentage of refugee status appeal applications declined and allowed by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority for the financial years from 1991/92 to 2004/2005.
Table 14: Breakdown of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority into categories of standard claims, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded claims, second appeals and third appeals for the financial years from 1998/99 to 2004/05.
Table 15: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 1998/99 financial year.Table 16: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 1999/2000 financial year.Table 17: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 2000/2001 financial year.Refugee Status Appeals Authority: Statistics by GenderTable 18: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 2001/2002 financial year.
Table 19: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 2002/2003 financial year.
Table 20: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 2003/2004 financial year.
Table 21: The number of decisions published by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority by nationality, including the number of decisions allowed, dismissed, non-appearance, manifestly unfounded, second appeals and third appeals in the 2004/2005 financial year.
Table 22: Top three countries with the highest number of appeals submitted in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2004/05.
Table 23: Top three countries with the highest number of appeals allowed by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2004/05.
Table 24: Top three countries with the highest number of appeals dismissed by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2004/05.
Table 25: Top three countries with the highest number of manifestly unfounded appeals determined by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2004/05.
Table 26: Number of decisions published by nationality and gender, including a breakdown of appeal applications allowed and declined, by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 1998/99 financial year.Table 27: Number of decisions published by nationality and gender, including a breakdown of appeal applications allowed and declined, by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 1999/2000 financial year.Refugee Status Appeals Authority: Child ApplicantsTable 28: Number of decisions published by nationality and gender, including a breakdown of appeal applications allowed and declined, by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2000/01 financial year.
Table 29: Number of decisions published by nationality and gender, including a breakdown of appeal applications allowed and declined, by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2001/02 financial year.
Table 30: Number of decisions published by nationality and gender, including a breakdown of appeal applications allowed and declined, by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2002/03 financial year.
Table 31: Top three countries, by gender, with the highest number of appeals submitted to the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.
Table 32: Top three countries, by gender, with the highest number of appeals allowed by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.
Table 33: Top three countries, by gender, with the highest number of appeals declined by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.
Table 34: Breakdown of success rates by gender as a percentage of both successful appeals and total appeals decided in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2002/03.
Table 35: Child appellants in the Refugee Status appeals Authority, including their nationality, gender and decision outcome in the 1998/99 financial year.Refugee Status Appeals Authority: Article 1F ExclusionTable 36: Child appellants in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including their nationality, gender and decision outcome in the 1999/2000 financial year.
Table 37: Child appellants in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including their nationality, gender and decision outcome in the 2000/2001 financial year.
Table 38: Child appellants in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including their nationality, gender and decision outcome in the 2001/2002 financial year.
Table 39: Child appellants in the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including their nationality, gender and decision outcome in the 2002/2003 financial year.
Table 40: Breakdown by nationality of Article 1F exclusion decisions of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 1998/99 financial year.Table 41: Breakdown by nationality of Article 1F exclusion decisions of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 1999/2000 financial year.
Table 42: Breakdown by nationality of Article 1F exclusion decisions of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2000/2001 financial year.
Table 43: Breakdown by nationality of Article 1F exclusion decisions of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2001/2002 financial year.
Table 44: Breakdown by nationality of Article 1F exclusion decisions of the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the 2002/2003 financial year.
Judicial Review
Table 45: Analysis of the outcomes of judicial review applications filed in the High Court in the financial years from 1998/99 to 2003/2004.
United Nations Refugee Quota Programme
Table 46: Breakdown by nationality of people granted residence in New Zealand under the United Nations Refugee Quota programme in the financial years from 1979/80 to 1989/90.Table 47: Breakdown by nationality of people granted residence in New Zealand under the United Nations Refugee Quota Programme in the financial years from 1990/91 to 2003/2004.
Expulsion Statistics
Table 48: The number of people refused entry to New Zealand and turned around at airports in the calendar years from 1991 to 1995 and the financial years from 1996/97 to 2003/04.Table 49: Breakdown by nationality of people refused entry to New Zealand and turned around at airports in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2003/04.
Table 50: Three countries with the highest number of nationals refused entry and turned around upon arrival at a New Zealand airport in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2003/04.
Table 51: The number of removal orders served, and the number of people removed as a result of removal orders executed, including those declined refugee status, and voluntary departures during the calendar years from 1993 to 1995 and the financial years from 1996/97 to 2003/04.
Table 52: Number of officers employed by the New Zealand Immigration Service to enforce border control in the calendar/financial years from 1997 to 2002/03.
Table 53: Number of overstayers in New Zealand as assessed at given dates in the years 1991 to 2004.
Table 54: Estimated numbers of overstayers by nationality as at 28 April 2004 in descending rank.
Refugee Status Branch: General Statistics Table 1: The number of people arriving at New Zealand airports and indicating a wish to apply for refugee status (spontaneous refugees) in the calendar years from 1991 to 1996 and the financial years from 1997/1998 to 2002/2003.[1]
Year Number of Persons 1991 184 1992 215 1993 103 1994 88 1995 175 1996 280 1997/98 299 1998/99 342 1999/2000 292 2000/01 287 2001/02 241 2002/03
247
Table 2: The number of refugee status applications submitted to the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1990/91 to 2002/2003.[2]
Financial Year Applications
received by RSB1990/91 901 1991/92 1124 1992/93 541 1993/94 382 1994/95 641 1995/96 1064 1996/97 1534 1997/98 1784 1998/99 2019 1999/2000 1409 2000/01 1703 2001/02 1453 2002/03
1623
Table 3: The number of refugee status applications determined, and the number of applications and people approved and declined by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.[3]
Decisions made Applications approved % Applications Approved People approved Applications declined % Applications Declined People declined 1992/93 1268 95 7.5% 128 1173 92.5% 1543 1993/94 416 27 6.5% 68 389 93.5% 638 1994/95 284 76 26.8% 134 208 73.2% 293 1995/96 565 87 15.4% 147 478 84.6% 793 1996/97 679 105 15.5% 180 574 84.5% 1060 1997/98 768 134 17.4% 275 634 82.6% 1055 1998/99 1595 234 14.7% 538 1361 85.3% 2182 1999/2000 1955 310 15.9% 473 1645 84.1% 1967 2000/01 2348 311 13.2% 312 2037 86.8% 2104 2001/02
2608
631
24.2%
650
1977
75.8%
2104
2002/03
1267
247
19.5%
-
1020
80.5%
-
Table 4: Number of applications lodged with the Refugee Status Branch per client during the period 01 July 1999 to 30 June 2004.
Number of applications lodged per client Number of clients 1 5147 2 336 3 84 4 34 5 9 Total 5610
Refugee Status Branch: Statistics by Nationality Table 5: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications filed with the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1990/91 to 2002/2003.[4]
Year 1 2 3 4 5 1990/91 India (503) China (124) Bangladesh (70) Iran (46) Sri Lanka (39) 1991/92 China (481) India (324) Iran (108) Sri Lanka (41) Peru (24) 1992/93 India (167) China (158) Iran (55) Peru (26) Bulgaria/ Russia (16) 1993/94 China/ India (91) - Iran (38) Bangladesh (25) Russia (24) 1994/95 India (206) Russia (126) China (37) Somalia (23) Sri Lanka (22) 1995/96 India (252) China (226) Russia (154) Iran (104) Somalia (34) 1996/97 China (663) India (183) Russia (110) Iran (87) Fiji (66) 1997/98 China (363) South Korea (174) India (168) Indonesia (120) Vietnam (100) 1998/99 Indonesia (504) Thailand (221) China (217) India (151) Sri Lanka (115) 1999/2000 Thailand (200) India (140) Czech Rep (124) Sri Lanka (119) Iran (112) 2000/01 Thailand (455) Iran (138) Sri Lanka (126) Czech Rep (123) Zimbabwe (95) 2001/02 Thailand (427) Afghanistan (137) Iran (104) India (85) Zimbabwe (75) 2002/03
Thailand (219)
Iran (148)
India (106)
Zimbabwe (101)
Hungary (81)
Table 6: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications approved by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.
Year 1 2 3 4 5 1992/93 China (31) Iran (20) Sri Lanka (6) India (5) Philippines (3) 1993/94 Iran (5) Ghana/ Somalia (3) - Afghanistan (4) Bangladesh/India/ Zaire (2) 1994/95 Somalia (10) Sri Lanka/ Iran (9) - Philippines/ Afghanistan (5) - 1995/96 Iran (15) India (11) Afghanistan (7) Somalia (6) Ghana/Nigeria/ Rwanda (5) 1996/97 Iran (22) Somalia (14) Iraq (8) India/Libya (6) - 1997/98 Iran/ Sri Lanka (28) - Ethiopia (11) Iraq/Somalia (10) - 1998/99 Sri Lanka (48) Afghanistan (39) Iran (31) Somalia (22) India (11) 1999/2000 Sri Lanka (85) Iran (67) Afghanistan (67) Somalia (25) Iraq (10) 2000/01 Sri Lanka (87) Iran (85) China (25) Iraq (24) Kuwait (13) 2001/02 Afghanistan (157) Iran (152) Sri Lanka (83) Iraq (73) Kuwait (31) 2002/03
Iran (88)
Zimbabwe (33)
Sri Lanka (23)
Iraq (22)
Somalia (17)
Table 7: Five countries with the highest number of refugee status applications declined by the Refugee Status Branch during the financial years from 1992/93 to 2002/2003.
Year 1 2 3 4 5 1992/93 China (464) India (442) Iran (87) Sri Lanka (35) Philippines (21) 1993/94 China (112) India (88) Iran (39) Philippines (16) Bangladesh/Bulgaria (15) 1994/95 India (57) China (59) Rwanda (18) Bangladesh (13) Philippines (10) 1995/96 India (252) Rwanda (61) China (28) Iran (26) Philippines (15) 1996/97 China (155) India (130) Fiji (42) Rwanda (41) Iran (34) 1997/98 China (121) Fiji (109) India (103) South Korea (53) Iran (33) 1998/99 China (318) South Korea (142) Indonesia (118) Thailand (110) Vietnam (96) 1999/2000 China (422) Indonesia (349) India (127) Malaysia (105) Thailand (63) 2000/01 Thailand (475) China (196) India (121) Indonesia (93) Malaysia (56) 2001/02 Thailand (408) India (197) China (136) Czech Rep (135) Sri Lanka (93) 2002/03
Thailand (218)
India (106)
Hungary (81)
Zimbabwe (68)
Iran (60)
Refugee Status Branch: Statistics by Gender Table 8: Breakdown by gender of the applications received by the
Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2001/2002.
1997/98 (%) 1998/99 (%) 1999/2000 (%) 2000/01 (%) 2001/02
(%)Male 1305 (73.2%) 1393 (69%) 955 (67.8%) 1079 (62.7%) 948 (65%) Female 458 (25.7%) 623 (30.8%) 449 (31.9%) 638 (37.1%) 507 (35%) Unknown 20 (1%) 4 (0.2%) 4 (0.3%) 2 (.2%) - Total 1783 (100%) 2020 (100%) 1408 (100%) 1719 (100%) 1455 (100%)
Table 9: Breakdown by gender of the applications approved by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.
1997/98 (%) 1998/99 (%) 1999/2000 (%) 2000/01 (%) 2001/02 (%) 2002/03 (%)
Male 106 (79.1%) 184 (78.6%) 281 (90.7%) 244 (78.2%) 459 (73.2%) 165 (66.8%)
Female 27 (20.2%) 50 (21.4%) 28 (9%) 68 (21.8%) 168 (26.8%) 82 (33.2%)
Unknown 1 (0.7%) 0 (0%) 1 (0.3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Total 134 (100%) 234 (100%) 310
(100%)312
(100%)627 (100%) 247 (100%)
Table 10: Breakdown by gender of the applications declined by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.
1997/98(%) 1998/99(%) 1999/2000(%) 2000/01 (%) 2001/02 (%) 2002/03 (%)
Male 423(72.3%) 864(69.8%) 971(65.7%) 1338 (63%) 1381(66.7%) 702 (68.8%)
Female 151(25.8%) 364(29.4%) 501(33.9%) 781(36.7%) 688 (33.3%) 318 (31.2%)
Unknown 11(1.9%) 10(0.8%) 6(0.4%) 7 (.3%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)
Total 585(100%) 1238(100%) 1478(100%) 2126(100%) 2069(100%) 1020 (100%)
Table 11: Breakdown of success rate by gender as a percentage of both successful applications and total applications decided by the Refugee Status Branch in the financial years from 1997/98 to 2002/2003.[5]
1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03
Total applications decided 719 1472 1788 2342 2694 1267
No of successful male applications 106 184 281 244 459 165
No of successful female applications 27 50 28 68 168 82
Total successful applications 134 234 310 312 627 247
Male success rate as a %
of total successful applications79.1% 78.6% 90.6% 78.2% 73.2% 66.8%
Female success rate as a %
of total successful applications20.1% 21.4% 9% 21.8% 26.8% 33.2%
Success of male applicants
as a % of total applications14.8% 12.5% 15.7% 10.4% 17% 13%
Success of female applicants
as a % of total applications3.8% 3.4% 1.6% 2.9% 6.2% 6.5%
Total success rate 18.6% 15.9% 17.3% 13.3% 23.3% 19.5%
Refugee Status Appeals Authority: General Statistics Table 12: The number of appeals received, withdrawn, heard, published and finalised by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority, including the number of outstanding appeals, in the financial years 1991/92 to 2004/05.[6]
Appeals received Appeals withdrawn/ OOT* Appeals heard Appeals published Appeals finalised Appeals outstanding** June-1991 18 0 7 0 0 18 1991/92 376 15 102 57 72 322 1992/93 1339 72 313 166 238 1423 1993/94 524 110 551 409 519 1428 1994/95 179 416 525 509 925 670 1995/96 354 14 165 125 139 215 1996/97 458 60 421 409 469 238 1997/98 417 32 371 426 458 185 1998/99 582 25 459 405 430 333 1999/2000 574 70 494 517 587 317 2000/01 640 76 634 642 718 236 2001/02 1277 106 651 637 743 770 2002/03
670
129
623
570
699
741
2003/04
550
98
561
569
667
624
2004/05
192
37
364
319
357
460
Total to date 8150 1260 6241 5760 7021 460
Key
* Appeals lodged out of time.
** Includes both appeals not yet heard and those not yet published.
Table 13: The number and percentage of refugee status appeal applications declined and allowed by the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in the financial years from 1991/92 to 2004/05.[7]
Total number of decisions Number allowed Percentage allowed Number dismissed Percentage dismissed 1991/92 57 17 29.8% 40 70.2% 1992/93 166 28 16.8% 138 83.2% 1993/94 409 109 26.7% 300 73.3% 1994/95 509 250 49.1% 259 50.9% 1995/96 125 24 19.2% 101 80.8% 1996/97 409 37 9% 372 91% 1997/98 426 31 7.3% 395 92.7% 1998/99 405 42 10.4% 363 89.6% 1999/2000 517 74 14.3% 443 85.7% 2000/01 640 52 8% 588 92% 2001/02 637 51 8% 586 92% 2002/03 570 64 11.2% 506 88.8% 2003/04
565
88
15.6%
477
84.4%
2004/05
157
34
21.66%
123
78.34%
Total No/ average % 6157 1036 16.8% 5121