Geographies of Asylum Applicants to Europe, 2008-2021

Keywords: Asylum seekers, European Union, Gravity Model, Migration flows
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Studies on forced migration primarily focus on the European Union rather than recognizing the individual complexities of each individual European state. The specific social attitudes and asylum policy in each individual state are often overlooked or unrecognized. This research utilizes over 10 years of asylum data, including covariates for each individual member-state. Time-based data is utilized in this research to understand what the largest determining pull factor is for asylum seekers into a state. This research determines the largest push and pull factors of migration into each individual European state through the creation of a time-based full gravity model that measures the flows from country of origin to the destination country. While this research acknowledges that migrant choices are often constrained by broader geopolitical and socioeconomic factors, it is still useful to develop a holistic understanding of what factors pull migrants into certain member states and push them away from others.