Table 1
Refugee status claims per claim category, first‑instance decisions, 2020. Each row presents the share of claimants who have stated at least the claim category in question.
| REFUGEE STATUS CLAIM CATEGORY | ALL | CONFIDENCE INTERVAL (95%) | CONVENTION REFUGEES | CONFIDENCE INTERVAL (95%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | |||
| Political opinion | 45.4% | 43.8% | 47.1% | 58.7% | 56.9% | 60.5% |
| Religious belief | 21.2% | 19.9% | 22.6% | 27.4% | 25.8% | 29.1% |
| Gender | 19.4% | 18.1% | 20.7% | 25.0% | 23.5% | 26.7% |
| Race/ethnicity/nationality | 10.5% | 9.5% | 11.6% | 13.6% | 12.4% | 14.9% |
| Sexual orientation | 7.2% | 6.3% | 8.1% | 9.3% | 8.2% | 10.4% |
| Particular social group | 4.9% | 4.2% | 5.6% | 6.3% | 5.5% | 7.3% |
| Gender identity/expression | 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.9% |
| Several refugee status claims | 25.8% | 24.3% | 27.2% | 33.3% | 31.6% | 35.1% |
| No refugee status claims | 22.7% | 21.3% | 24.1% | N.A. | N.A. | N.A. |
| N | 3588 | 2771 | ||||
[i] Source: Swedish Migration Agency; calculations were performed by Angelica Dovenryd Almberg and Thomas Wimark.
Table 2
Individual characteristics of asylum applicants in first‑instance decisions, 2020.
| VARIABLE | ALL | SO CLAIM | SO LGBTQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Male sex (passport) | 60.7% | 71.2%*** | 71.7% |
| Age (mean in years) | 35.6 | 32.3*** | 30.9 |
| Family applicant | 15.1% | 1.2%*** | 0.0% |
| Child in application | 16.6% | 2.3%*** | 3.3% |
| Country of Origin | |||
| Rest of Africa | 13.2% | 44.7%*** | 58.3%** |
| Former USSR | 12.2% | 10.9% | 8.3% |
| Syria | 9.6% | 1.9%*** | 0.0% |
| Uzbekistan | 8.9% | 1.6%*** | 1.7% |
| Rest of MENA | 7.4% | 10.5% | 11.7% |
| Rest of Asia | 7.3% | 4.3% | 1.7% |
| Iraq | 6.7% | 7.0% | 8.3% |
| Latin America | 6.5% | 10.1%* | 0.0%** |
| Iran | 6.1% | 3.1%* | 5.5% |
| Afghanistan | 4.5% | 2.3% | 0.0% |
| Turkey | 4.1% | 0.8%** | 5.0%** |
| Palestine | 3.4% | 0.8%* | 0.0% |
| Eritrea | 3.2% | 0.0%** | 0.0% |
| Western Balkans | 2.7% | 1.2% | 0.0% |
| Other/Stateless | 4.0% | 0.8%** | 0.0% |
| CoO Same‑sex activity criminalized, HRW | 54.5% | 64.2%*** | 71.7% |
| N | 3588 | 257 | 59 |
[i] Note: The table only shows countries with more than 110 claimants. Others have been grouped together into regions. The variable ‘Family applicant’ refers to whether the applicant sought asylum together with another adult family individual. The variable ‘CoO Same‑sex activity criminalized, HRW’, refers to whether the applicant originated from a country where same‑sex activities were criminalized, as reported by Human Rights Watch in 2023. Source: Swedish Migration Agency; calculations were performed by Angelica Dovenryd Almberg and Thomas Wimark.
Table 3
Country of origin among sexual orientation claimants in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden.
| Rank | CoO | SWE | CoO | CANADA | CoO | UK | CoO | USA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uganda | 13.2% | Nigeria | 26.8% | Pakistan | 25.1% | El Salvador | 28.0% |
| 2 | Nigeria | 8.2% | Uganda | 5.3% | Bangladesh | 10.5% | Honduras | 14.8% |
| 3 | Iraq | 7.0% | Jamaica | 4.5% | Nigeria | 9.4% | Mexico | 12.1% |
| 4 | Ethiopia | 6.6% | Cameroon | 3.9% | Uganda | 7.0% | Guatemala | 8.4% |
| 5 | Ukraine | 4.3% | Ghana | 3.3% | Iran | 5.9% | Ghana | 7.8% |
[i] Source: Canada: refugee claims made 2013–2021 (Rehaag 2023), USA: Fear claims that led to interviews by asylum officers 2007–2017 (Shaw et al. 2021), UK: Initial decisions where sexual orientation was part of the claim 2015–2021 (Home Office 2022), Sweden: Initial decisions where sexual orientation was part of the claim 2020. Calculations were performed by Thomas Wimark.
Table 4
Case specifics for asylum applicants in first‑instance decisions, 2020.
| VARIABLE | ALL | SO CLAIM | SO LGBTQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Derivative right | 1.6% | 0.0%* | 0.0% |
| Harm | 62.0% | 70.0%** | 68.3% |
| Days in Sweden (mean) | 484 | 525 | 463 |
| Processing days (mean) | 384 | 447*** | 520* |
| Late applications | 2.1% | 12.8%*** | 10.0% |
| Several refugee status claims | 25.7% | 37.0%*** | 36.7% |
| Identity proven | 67.9% | 72.0% | 75.0% |
| Written evidence applicant | 46.7% | 53.3%* | 91.7%*** |
| Written evidence SMA | 16.5% | 16.0% | 21.7% |
| CoO report | |||
| Lifos | 50.5% | 25.7%*** | 18.3%* |
| EASO | 15.7% | 10.1%* | 11.8% |
| Landinfo | 13.8% | 5.5%*** | 6.8% |
| HRW | 5.5% | 10.1%*** | 11.9% |
[i] Note: The variable ‘Derivative’ rights indicates if a decision outcome was granted on other family members claims and assessments. ‘Harm’ refers to applicants that claimed to have been the subject of harm in their country of origin. Source: Swedish Migration Agency; calculations were performed by Angelica Dovenryd Almberg and Thomas Wimark.